Do we listen?

James 1:19, “¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

 Dr. Jerry Pipes wrote a book Building a Successful Family in it he states the number one issue in every household is communication or more specifically listening. He gives us five levels of listening that I believe he is on the money with. Each of these we may do given the situation we are in but the will reflect how affective your ministry is. They are ignoring, pretend, selective, attentive and empathetic listening. Some are simple to understand ignoring what someone is telling you will prevent you from forming any sort of relationship. First we have to stop ignoring those who we are trying to build a relationship with. Then there is pretend listening is when you are hearing the teacher from Charlie Brown, “Wa wha wa wah wa ha wa”. Selective listening guilty of this myself you only hear what you want to in a conversation. Those are the ways not to listen if you really want to minister to others. If you wish for you relationships to grow and further God’s kingdom we must listen tentatively to the conversation. You are involved in the conversation eye contact and you should focus on what the other person is saying. If you hear the teacher from Charlie Brown you’re not listening. Empathetic Listening requires you to open your heart and listen to the emotions that are coming and asking God to show you what the needs are.  I learned when I was in basic training God gave me two ears and one mouth so that I could listen twice as much and talk half as much as I did. 

There are five mistakes that we make when it comes to listening I want to share with you. Make believe, one up, Barney Fife, Dr. Phil and IPod listening. Make believe is the same as pretend listening people value there words true compassion will show that you value what they are saying. One up listening is what you might here in a nursing home. Instead of listening to someone’s problem we try to have a worse one. Barney Fife listening; guys this is most of us, when someone comes to us with a problem we start offering solutions without a clear understanding of the issue, “Nip it in the bud.” Dr. Phil listening has very little compassion in it we just offer solutions that are not well thought out so we can go back to our lives. The last one IPod listening is how most of us spend our lives we walk through life plugged into the world missing all those around us who are in need.  Not investing anytime in our family or friends no wonder our relationships are week and we are unable to lead the lost to Jesus.

When we look at how Jesus related to others we see he was a good listener. He allowed people to say what they had to and answered with compassion and understanding.  The story of the Samaritan women is a fine example. Take time to read that today it is found in John 4 and look at how Jesus approaches the situation does he show compassion or is he uncaring does he allow the prejudices of the world to prevent him from sharing the good news. Does he actively listen not just to her but to the Spirit as it gives Him insight about her and her life? Take time to day to examine your listening skills it can make the difference between heaven or hell for someone.