Growing in Listening & 10 Questions to Assess
From Sarah
Jesus often spoke, “He who has ears let him hear. He who has eyes let him see.”
It’s strange language at first. Did He mean all the people in the group the group He was speaking to were deaf & blind and this as His prayer of healing?!
Well, likely of course not! But in this phrase, He did point out an important reality- just because we may have the ability to hear, doesn’t mean we comprehend what was heard, nor if we have the ability to see, doesn’t mean we recognize what has been seen.
Jesus spoke of this referring to our mind, heart, & spirit. He meant that those hearing him would have sincere understanding, to what He was teaching about God and His Kingdom.
Many people missed Jesus being their long-awaited Savior because they failed to truly listen & understand Him. Even many of the religious leaders, well-bred in the God’s truth & ways, missed Him & allowed their prejudice & pride to block their ears.
I wonder how many God-given opportunities to minister or just to personally grow, I’ve missed because I wasn’t listening, because I wasn’t focused on understanding something or someone.
Truly listening, I believe is one of the greatest & most powerful gifts we can offer another person, especially if what they’re saying seems wild to us. When we listen, seeking to understand, we connect. And when we connect, we grow together & all the differences matter less than that connection we’ve found.
And this, when it comes to sharing our faith, is where the Holy Spirit can take over and move in ways our beliefs, thoughts, cleverness, & own words could never.
Growing in listening & understanding is something I am constantly pursuing & learning with God and especially other humans. These 10 questions were adapted from an article by Ginny Jacques on the FEBC’s Gospel blog (which we couldn’t find the link to presently).
In our latest Podcast Episode 6 – Their Story - Listening to Understand, Kevin & I discussed several of these and originally presented this set to be more of a quiz. Yet as we’ve been thinking more, we really feel these are best used for reflection & examination.
We encourage you to read through each slowly. Meditate on them with the Lord. And then send to one or two people you’re wanting to communicate deeper with.
Ask & seek to understand, which of these you need to work on the most. Start there & begin practicing. Allow Jesus to show you why that one is so difficult & let Him reshape your heart.
There’s so many who just want & need to be heard, but have no clue how to listen. Imagine if you & I got better at being different. Imagine if we were the best at what James called us to- to be “...Quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
Imagine if we didn’t pre-categorize everyone before we sought to hear. Imagine the opportunities, the wisdom, and the connection that will compound as you & I grow in being different with the Lord.