Listen...why not fix it!

My pastor, Bishop Barry D. Walker of A Place of Refuge Ministries has been preaching on, hearing. I have always considered myself a good listener. He has been talking about the difference between listening and hearing. He explained to us that hearing is not just listening but it is comprehension with intent to follow through and make the necessary changes. His messages prompted me to reevaluate the way I listen and the way I expect others to listen to and hear me. I mean think about it, we expect our children to listen to us but not just to listen…to hear what we are saying and comply, if they don’t…there will be consequences. Furthermore, I don’t know many people who appreciate speaking to their significant other and being ignored, do you? Well God expects the same! He has given us His Word as instructions for us to listen to and follow through with. He told us exactly what He expects; James 1:22-25 NKJV says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” How many of you would walk past a mirror and see your hair out of place, crumbs on your face or your shirt miss-buttoned and NOT fix it? (Stop and re-read that scripture above and take a moment to really think about this.) Ok, now if you know that you would not look at yourself in a mirror, see an issue and NOT fix it, then why would you continue living contrary to the way God has planned for you to live? Are you wondering what I mean by that? Let’s check the word again, James 4:17 is clear it says, “When you know to do right and choose to do wrong, you are in sin.” When we listen to our flesh or others that tell us certain things are ok but we know they are not, we are then indeed in sin when we do them. And what is the end result of sin? Romans 6:23 really tells the whole story, it says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” So let’s look in our spiritual mirror, see what’s wrong, LISTEN to the word and, why not fix it? Think about it!

Share your Perception!

“Psalms 96:3, Declare His glory among all nations, His wonders among all people.” Unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you saw the infamous dress that had the entire world and I mean, literally the entire WORLD talking! If you didn’t just google, “what color is this dress?” Anyway, here’s why I’m talking about this still. The picture of this dress went viral, because some people saw it as gold and white and some saw it as blue and black, but everyone was sharing the picture!

Personally I saw gold and white and no matter what I tried that’s what I saw despite the fact that many of my friends, family and co-workers, including one of my children, saw blue and black! It was baffling…many scientists and doctors tried to explain it but it didn’t matter. All over the world, people looked at this dress and debated on its true colors. Overnight millions of people shared this picture, via email, twitter, Facebook as well as phone texts and that is the amazing part I want to discuss. I wrote in my comments on the dress that I wished the fabric spelled out “Jesus saves,” because it quickly became apparent to me that more eyes were going to set upon this dress than perhaps had heard the good news of Jesus Christ that day. So of course you know it got me to thinking, “What if as many people as shared the picture of this dress, shared with their fellow man the story of Jesus? You may say, “If I share the news of Jesus, many will debate me or not believe me.” Well that’s okay, the debate over the color of that dress made national news, but here’s the best part, it will never be forgotten. The dress made an impression on the world that won’t soon be erased, the same as Jesus. So when you think of our Savior, share you perception with those around you, it will do more good than harm for them to hear the truth. Think about it!