Listening
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”
Today’s Text: 1 John 4:1-12 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
“Listening” to the word of God is the most important skill for a believer to develop. There are at least three challenges to developing that skill.
First, we need to be able to filter out the voices of the world when we listen to the word of God. The voices of the world will try to divert us away from the Spirit of truth. The world tries to convince us to listen to the word of God with “over-spiritualized” ears. In other words, because the word of God is so radically counterintuitive with respect to the world’s ways, we receive the word of God metaphorically or figuratively, when we should be receiving it literally. To be sure, some Scripture needs to be read metaphorically or figuratively, but we need to be able to discern the difference.
If we do not filter out the voices of the world when we listen to the word of God, we will try to conform what we hear to the ways of the world, instead of conforming our lives to the word of God.
The second challenge we face is that we have to contend with competing voices in the church. Throughout the ages, Christians have offered various ways to interpret the word of God. That is why there are so many Christian denominations and traditions.
Despite what some people say, interpreting the word of God is not so straightforward. One of the keys to interpreting the word of God is to determine what the “core” message of the Bible is. Generally speaking, the different traditions have branched off based on variations in what the “core” message is.
For example, the Reformed tradition is grounded in the emphasis on God’s covenant with His people. Generally speaking, I do consider myself Reformed too. However, I have always found myself asking the question “why.” And as I began to study the Bible more, my heart has landed on the answer, “God is love” (verse 8). Some in the Reformed tradition would disagree that “God is love” deserves greater emphasis than God’s covenant with His people.
Obviously, the emphasis on God’s love and God’s covenant do not contradict one another. Developing a “listening” heart to God’s word leads to greater understanding of the different voices in the church, while still discerning the common “Spirit of truth.”
The third challenge we face in listening to the word of God is obedience. In the ancient days, the concept of “listening” and “obeying” were pretty much the same. Obviously, there was a distinction between listening and obeying. But when John says, “listen,” he basically means “obey.”
John’s entire argument is that loving one another as believers is the defining application of the fact that God has loved us first in Christ Jesus (verse 10). And so he says that anyone who does not “listen” to that teaching bears evidence that they are not from God.
John’s teaching is quite black and white. If I were to also understand it black and white, I would have to conclude that I am not from God. But I have to believe that I am saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone.
So I am coming to rest in the knowledge that my journey of faith is a daily refining of the application to love my brothers and sisters sacrificially. Some days are better than others. Some moments are better than others.
Even if I fail, the recognition of my failure is a refining of the application to love my brothers and sisters sacrificially. Because with that recognition, I can repent and pray for forgiveness and transformation.
Father, From You is life. Life is born of Your love, because You are love. I confess that I am not always an agent of Your love in this world, especially toward my brothers and sisters in Christ. Forgive me, Lord, and change my heart. Thank Your for Your patience, grace, and mercy. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
