“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. [Revelation 2.7a]
How important is listening to the Spirit of God?
Well, Jesus says "listening to the Spirit" is a required act of obedience. And furthermore, Jesus conjuncts another requirement in this same sentence: one must also "understand what the Spirit is saying" to the churches...
So we are tasked not only with listening, but also with understanding. We are not told that listening leads to understanding, but that listening and understanding are both acts of obedience... Hmmm. What does this mean?
I believe far too many 'believers' are satisfied only with hearing what the Spirit says. However, when it comes to making themselves understand what is said, there is a falling away of sorts. Understanding requires work - digging for more information - searching for meaning in what was said - and too few give understanding enough effort.
The words of the opening scripture above are repeated for all seven of the churches mentioned in the opening portion of John's Revelation. I believe this repetition is enough evidence to convince us of the importance of this seven-times repeated statement.
We are given the two-fold mandate to "listen" and to "understand." I write "mandate" instead of "mandates" because one without the other is not an option. It is a singular command fulfilled only in two-part obedience. We must listen with the intent to understand and understand on the basis of listening.
Father, help us to listen and understand as a singular obedience. Help us never be satisfied to simply listen without understanding or to think we 'understand' without having first listened.
1 comment:
Too many people don’t give enough effort to understanding, this is such a profound statement in its own right here brother. I think it’s so true just as you used mandate instead of mandates in regards to listening and understanding. One in the same one with the other never without. Only to be interpreted as one not as two. We too quickly don’t give time, time probably our the most precious commodity we possess. We use it up on our social interaction and our hobbies but how much do we use to fulfill the commandments. How much is used to understand. Understand his word the Word (Jesus)? Where is our time given too? It’s rarely given to actual understanding, so where are we looking too comprehending anything of or in this world? What are we doing? What is our purpose? What are we doing with that purpose? Are we even aware of our purpose? Have we even looked for our purpose? Are we spending time in our understanding? So are we listening md understanding the commands given to the church? You answer! You look! You decide! You know the answer!
Thanks brother so very enlightening today, God Bless you.
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