A cool verse that goes along with our first PULSE point, our ears...

This message from PULSE was a couple of Sundays ago, but in my Quiet Time Tuesday morning, I ran across this verse, so I thought I'd share.

At Bay West Church, we're in this series PULSE and the idea is to check our spiritual pulse by reading 5 pulse points: ears, heart, mouth, eyes, and the feet. We get these from Proverbs 4:20-27.

The first week we talked about our ears and how we should be listening to the Word of God. A lot of people hear God's Word, but they never really listen to it. Psalm 1:2 tells us to "meditate on it day and night" and we talked about how that doesn't mean to sit in a corner with crossed knees and just think all day and night...that would violate other places in Scripture. What it meant was that God's Word should always be in your field of vision when you make any decision...it should always be the first consult and the last decision maker. Everything goes through that lens...when you do this, you really begin to see how it applies to every situation and you really listen to it. This is the point that most of us fail.

I was reading on www.oneyearbibleonline.com (which is where I try to read every day for my quiet time) and I came across this verse in Matthew. The disciples asked Jesus why he used parables to teach the people. Parables are stories that illustrate what Jesus is talking about in real life or in an artisitic way that sheds further understanding on the principle Jesus is explaining. Anyway, Jesus answered them this way...

13 That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see.
They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.
Matthew 13:13

You see...the reason He taught how He did was to make us not just hear something that sounds nice, but to have to use our brains to think about it, thereby understanding the concept more fully. It was to give examples of how to integrate it in our lives or to make us dissect the concept intellectually or to peak our understanding by engaging our brain in something that drew us in, but expected us to put a little effort into understanding. In other words, to make us listen.

Just thought it was cool and figured I'd share. Please continue to pray for us as we try to be a church in Palm Bay, Florida.