Listening to Preaching
Job 13:17 Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.
What do you think of if you hear the word diligent? I think a lot of times we think of it in reference to someone who is hard working. They are diligent at their job. You think of someone who tries to do their job efficiently and to the absolute best of their ability. Diligent comes from a Latin word diligere which means to “value highly, take delight in.” How often do we listen with that same type of diligence? If you have a spouse or friend talking to you have you ever heard them utter the phrase: “Are you even listening to me?” Have you ever been talking to someone and you’ve heard their voice, maybe even made eye contact, but when they walk away you couldn’t begin to repeat anything they had just said. Now if someone was in trouble and another person was instructing us on how to remedy that situation we would most definitely be listening very closely. We would value everything they had to say in order to help the person in need. Do we treat preaching the same way? At a typical service if someone was to ask you in the parking lot what the preacher preached on could you give a thorough answer? Not just the text or title, but actually give a few details on what was preached. If we are going to show up and trust that the man of God has spent time with God to get the message then we need to be diligent in our listening because God has something for each of us in the message that He has sent through God’s man. It’s possible taking notes could help you listen and retain more. Maybe you need to sit up front to help rid yourself of any distractions that can arise and take your attention away from the preaching. Praying before hand to get your mind cleared of everything you have going on can help us focus on the message. Whatever it may be God has sent a message through His man to help us. Are we truly listening?
God bless you today! Bro. Josh Richardson
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