Do You Need a Hearing Aid?

As you age, some of your sensory tools begin to fade. Nearly one in three people between 64 and 75 have hearing loss and nearly half of those over 75 have difficulty hearing. This can present a great deal of difficulty for both the one trying to hear and the one trying to be heard.

Yet, seniors are not the only ones who have hearing difficulties:

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. James 1:22 (MSG)

Taking one segment of the population, church folks, we see in the above passage that James recognized that there were those who said they were listening, but in fact they were letting the Word go in one ear and come out the other! James likened it to someone who saw themselves in a mirror and then in just a couple of minutes could not remember what they looked like!

Listening is more than receiving decibels in our ear. It is a skill that is learned. We have to purpose in our heart that what we hear we are going to allow our brain to receive and decipher. It is an intentional act. It is not something that is a casual act.

The next step after the brain is allowed to decipher the meaning of what we hear is to determine what we are going to do about it. It is said that the brain retains everything we hear, but that does not mean we will remember it, and certainly does not mean we will act on it. We remember things that are important to us, or have in some way impacted us, either negatively or positively. However, triggers can bring up stored information that we have not thought about or even knew we retained.

What is the point to this? We hear, and even though we don’t act on it in some way, that stored information can be brought up at a later point to have a definitive impact on our life. Thus, sharing the gospel is never wasted on the reluctant hearer – for scripture says:

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. Isaiah 55:11 (NLT)

Sometimes it just takes a hearing aid composed of life’s trials and tribulations to bring it from the suppressed memory to live action!

Keep preaching!

Maria