Highland Park Lutheran Church - Weekly Devotional

Tell me something. Do you suppose God has any of those feelings when He tries to talk to us, and we won’t listen? I expect God can feel just as frustrated and hurt as we do. I expect that’s why in today’s Bible verse Jesus tells us that people who listen to God’s word are blessed. After all, God only wants what’s best for us, so why wouldn’t we listen?

What’s one way to tell if someone is listening to you? How about this: you ask someone to do something and they do it. I’d say that’s a pretty good indication they were listening. In today’s Bible verse, that’s the way Jesus looks at it. According to Jesus, if we’re listening to God’s word we’ll obey God’s word.

Hmmm… So, Pastor are you saying that when we break God’s commandments, we’re not listening to what God has to say because we think we might know better? Oh, that’s some good listening. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying, but what’s more important is that’s what Jesus is saying, too. “He who has ears to hear…”

I’ll see you in church!

	Thought for the Week… Listen Up July 12-18, 2009 Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it!" Luke 11:28 Would you say you’re a good listener? I don’t know about you, but it seems to me we can get so excited when we’re talking that we can end up focusing more on what we want to say next rather than listening to what the other person has to say. I imagine many of us have had the experience of trying to talk with someone who wouldn’t listen to what we had to say. Maybe it was a subject they didn’t care about. Maybe they thought they knew better than us. Trying to talk with someone who won’t listen isn’t much fun is it? It can be frustrating, even hurtful.
	Tell me something. Do you suppose God has any of those feelings when He tries to talk to us, and we won’t listen? I expect God can feel just as frustrated and hurt as we do. I expect that’s why in today’s Bible verse Jesus tells us that people who listen to God’s word are blessed. After all, God only wants what’s best for us, so why wouldn’t we listen? What’s one way to tell if someone is listening to you? How about this: you ask someone to do something and they do it. I’d say that’s a pretty good indication they were listening. In today’s Bible verse, that’s the way Jesus looks at it. According to Jesus, if we’re listening to God’s word we’ll obey God’s word. Hmmm… So, Pastor are you saying that when we break God’s commandments, we’re not listening to what God has to say because we think we might know better? Oh, that’s some good listening. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying, but what’s more important is that’s what Jesus is saying, too. “He who has ears to hear…” I’ll see you in church!