Do you know the difference between
To Hear and To Listen?
When you turn on the TV or the radio, you surely hear the people talking,
BUT ARE YOU LISTENING TO THEM?
If we consult a dictionary, we will find the following definition for the verb to hear:
"perceive with the ear the sound made by (someone or something)"
It is a passive attitude that does not require any effort on our part. What we hear is not always precise in the mind. We will hear, for example, the noise of the street or the song of birds in a forest or the noise of engines in a factory.
To listen, on the other hand, represents an action depending on our will. We decide to listen. Do you grasp the big difference? When we are listening, it is a specific sound that WE WANT TO PERCEIVE. It is no longer independent of our will and it is no longer anything!
Instead of hearing the song of the birds, you will listen to THE song of THE nightingale. You will listen to the failures of your engine.
It is very important to understand the meaning of the verb to listen when it comes to the Word of our Father. Let us read how Paul warns us about this in his second epistle to Timothy, chapter 4, verses 1 to 4:
" 1 I charge you therefore before Elohim and the Lord Yeshuah Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach THE WORD! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. "
Paul therefore warns us that at a certain time people will desire to hear pleasant things, anything, as long as it is pleasant! This way is the way of the world opposite to that of the believer because these men, instead of LISTENING and LISTENING TO THE TRUTH, will turn away from it!
This is exactly what a communications expert is telling:
"Experience shows that today's man has a natural inclination (that is to say, independent of his will) to retain only what corresponds to pleasant emotions.
In these conditions, the information that the ear transmits to the brain is FILTERED through the screen of our UNCONSCIOUS attitude and this prevents our objective information, it prevents us from seeing clearly, discerning the pros and cons of what we hear. "
This expert therefore confirms that the time of which Paul speaks is here. Paul's prophecy is therefore being fulfilled in our time and this attitude of today's man is a danger for all believers who risk being manipulated by communication technicians!
Let us therefore follow the recommendation of Yeshua stated in Matthew 10:16:
" “Behold, I send you out as sheep IN THE MIDST OF WOLVES. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."
Indeed, these days, we will hear more and more information and noises, but we must listen to the slightest suspicious noise and learn to filter what we are hearing.
You will have to grow Motivation in yourself!
Improving the quality of listening requires a dose of motivation. Indeed, you must fight this natural tendency that you have to want to hear pleasant things that give you the impression of confort.
On the contrary, it may be that you have for instance in front of you somebody who has difficulty expressing himself, at the very least dislexic, but whose message is vital for you. His difficulty of expression will
BREAK THE CHARM!
Your selfish nature will push you to close the filter that connects the listening from your ear to the brain. You will therefore divert your attention to other areas of interest, thus avoiding enriching and corrective listening. This disinterest created by a lack of motivation will lead you to a drowsiness, first physical and then spiritual.
Such drowsiness leads to the criminal lukewarmness alleged against the Laodicean Church in the end times (Revelation 3: 14-22).
How can we remedy the lack of motivation? A first means is first of all to convince oneself that any speaker is a creature of our Father and that he must therefore have an outstanding value. His words and actions have intrinsic values that we should take advantage of. So let's be on the lookout to discover them and to pick the fruits. Let’s put our assumptions and those of those around us aside and show independence of mind.
Let us gather all our energy to listen attentively and do not hesitate to take notes to avoid forgetting enriching meditations following our listening.
All this corresponds to an active attitude, an attitude guided by love to seek to understand what our Lord eventually wants to tell us.
This type of action is also a way of redeeming time but pay attention on the fact that listening to someone does not necessarily mean that we must espouse his views; on the contrary, it may be that listening will reveal lies and a risk of seduction which could lead us into in the wrong direction.
Let us always take as an example that of David vis-à-vis the Word of our Creator, according to Psalm 119, verses 129 and 130:
" 129 Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul keeps them.
130 The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple."
Avoid food in excess!
One last advice to avoid poor quality listening is to avoid overeating. Indeed, a difficult digestion thwarts the support of our attention necessary for good listening.
To avoid this, it is recommended to eat moderately and without any hurry.
Some of you are living in countries where food is plentiful; if these your case, remember the painful story of the Children of Israel in the wilderness with the quails they ate hastily (Numbers 11).
Excess food also has a spiritual aspect: be careful not to stuff yourselves with all the beliefs that circulate around you, propagated by an endless number of so-called prophets that our Lord never sent.
So let us always remember this warning in Luke 21, verses 34 to 36:
" 34 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”