Ears That Do Not Hear

The hearing specialist came out to call the next patient, “Stephen”. I looked around the waiting room, but there was no one else but me. So I asked her, do you mean “David”? She said “yes, that’s who I just said.”

She was helping me decide about getting hearing aids. We looked over the results of the first hearing test. My left ear dropped off so badly in the high frequencies that they insisted I get an MRI on my inner ear canal to rule out a physiological cause. But the result that I had not noticed, prior, she pointed out. One of the tests had been word recognition. With my left ear I scored only 52%. I got 13 right and 12 wrong. The other ear was 80%. The funny thing is this. I remembered doing that word recognition test. I didn’t miss a single word, I thought. Certainly don’t need hearing aids.

My dear, wonderful wife, Carol, is the one who insisted that I get my hearing checked. So I did so, just to prove to her that I could hear just fine, thank you. She also insisted I get my vision checked. I went to the optometrist to see if I needed glasses, something a bit more prescriptive than the reading glasses I had been buying from the Dollar Store. After the vision test the optometrist started looking into my eyeballs with some special scope. He told me that glasses would do me no good, because I had cataracts that were clouding my vision so much.

I had recognized that one eye was getting more and more blurry, or cloudy, so I wasn’t surprised. When I went to see the Ophthalmologist to discuss cataract surgery she looked into my eyeballs as well. Her comment was simple, “I don’t know how you can even see.”

The morning after surgery to remove the cataract in my right eye is a vivid memory. I got up like usual and went to the sink to wash my face and wake up. I was startled and stepped back from the mirror, hardly recognizing the guy looking back at me. He had spots, scars, wrinkles and whiskers, a face I had not seen in years, I reckon. After a few days I began to realize that the left eye, the one that was my good eye, was now very cloudy. What I thought was a good eye was almost as bad as my bad eye. The doctor said, “I told you so. I have reserved another surgery date for you.”

I am amazed at how bad my hearing and my eyesight was and I did not even have a clue. It reminds me of statements in Scripture. “They have eyes but do not see, ears but do not hear” (Jer 5:21). After telling a parable Jesus often challenged his listeners, saying, “He who has ears let him hear” (Mt 11:15). And at the close of each of the assessments of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 Jesus said the same, “He who has ears let him hear”.

The Jews of OT times were dull and blind to the truth of the prophets. Hard hearts, molded by the cultures around them, defiantly insisting that God should conform to their lifestyle. The Jews of NT times were dull and blind to the teaching of Jesus about the New Kingdom. They thought they had God all figured out. You can’t change a mind that is smarter than God. And the church, full of believers, is pictured by the Lord of the Church as being dull and blind to its condition. A happy, going concern, but off the mark.  All of these, having ears and eyes, are totally unaware that they do not hear the voice of God. Clueless. Just like me, with my ears and my eyes.

I wanted to understand this phenomenon. Why do so many people have ears but do not hear God, eyes but not see Him. Even those who seem to be otherwise spiritually inclined. The answer could be summed up in one word. Bias. We tend to hear God (or not hear Him), interpret His truth, and incorporate it into our life, based on the bias of our heart. The bias to accept the lifestyle of the world about us. The bias to accept long-standing theological beliefs that rule out any other understanding. The bias to be carefree and easygoing in surrendering all to the amazing love of God. In the parable of the four soils, there is one who hears the word of God, receives it, and bears fruit. That person is “noble and good” (Mt 13:13-23).

Today In the US of A

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of many

 will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end

 will be saved. (Matthew 24:12-13)

Welcome to today in the US of A.

Where sex is free and love is expensive. Where losing a phone is more painful than losing your virginity. Where modernization means nudity, profanity, surfing the web, and “what’s in it for me.” Where if you don't drink or smoke dope you're out of fashion, not in style. Where social media has replaced real relationships.

Where boys stay boys and never want to become men, and girls become men to rule over them. Where if you don't fool your partner it's because you're not clever enough. Where the bathrooms have become photography studios. Where pizza delivery is faster than the emergency response. Where people fear thieves and terrorists more than they fear God.

Where worshiping God is difficult. Where temples turn into dating pools. Where lies are expedient and deceptions become realities. Where ladies fear pregnancy more than HIV, and babies are murdered so women can escape. Where people become toxic when they speak the truth. Where political stances are more important to the Body of Christ than love, hope, and mercy.

Where perspectives and clothes decide the value of a person. Where money is more important than family and God. Where children are ready to leave their families for their love of the moment, rebellion and spite. Where pop stars are far more revered than statesmen or great leaders. Where education is liquid, where teaching the current social trends is more important than historical facts and important life skills.

Where love is a game. Where the marriage covenant is no longer sacred or taken seriously. Where 25^th and 50^th anniversaries are as archaic as the phone booth, or the horse and buggy. Where it's easier to play house than to build a home. Where jumping from partner to partner for sex or attention is easy and normal.

Where the concept of evil no longer exists, and sin is a forgotten concept. Where confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation are put on the shelf only to collect dust.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.  (II Tim 3:1-4)

There's still hope in Jesus. Love and forgiveness, too.  Always. It's never, ever too late!

(Reposted form the internet, original source unknown, with some revisions by Dave Eymann)

Surrender

Surrender is an important concept of faith that many Christians overlook. We love the word obedience, but when it comes to surrender, we only give lip service. Let’s start with reflecting on one of the great hymns of the faith. My good friend, Perry, would sing this song almost every time he was asked to sing a solo. It brought people to tears, because it flowed from his heart.

All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give,

I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live.

If faith is a trust relationship with God then we must ask ourselves, what is the measure of faith?  What is the hallmark of a trust relationship? Is it belief?  Is it obedience? Or is it surrender?

You may think I am quibbling over words. But it is much more important. You see, many Christians live with a false sense of the fullness of a trust relationship with God based on obedience, rather than based on surrender. When we hear sermons on obedience, we sit up tall in the pew, look about at the others in the room, and pat ourselves on the back. (Or we sit there wallowing in our unceasing failure.) The “obedient” respond like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18. He puffed up his chest as he dropped his obedient tithe in the temple treasury while, at the same time, scorning the tax collector next to him, a man who was beating his chest and crying out for mercy.

Do you remember the little Sicilian man in the movie, “Princess Bride”?  He would often say, “Inconceivable”. Finally, Inigo Montoya said to him, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” May I suggest that we do the same with the word “obedience”. We keep using the word, but it does not mean what we think it means. We think that we are full of faith when we obey every rule and command we find in Scripture. We believe we are righteous because we are obedient. We think that if we are totally compliant that we are surrendered. But that is not the case. The opposite is what is true. If we are fully surrendered then obedience will follow. That is what Jesus meant when he said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Jesus was not uttering a threat to his disciples, rather he was saying that obedience flows out of love and surrender.

The proud Pharisee in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18) was obedient, but he was not surrendered. The rich young ruler in Luke 18 was obedient, from his youth, but he was not surrendered. His riches were more important than surrender, and obedience assuaged his heart. Obedience for him was an impediment. The blind man that clamored for Jesus to heal him was full of faith (also in Lk 18). And you cannot measure that faith by obedience. Rather, his impetuous, noisy and persistent demands demonstrated a heart that was surrendered to the love and power of Jesus. Then in Luke 19 we have the story of Zacchaeus. He probably had heard the parables and seen the miracles of Jesus (Lk 18) as Jesus approached Jericho and his heart was captivated. Jesus went to his home for lunch. After Zacchaeus repented and offered extravagant demonstrations of his surrender, Jesus said, “Today, righteousness and salvation has come to this home.”  Like Abraham, righteousness based on love, trust, and surrender. But for both Abraham and Zacchaeus it was surrender that led them to obey, even beyond reason.

I don’t have a dislike or disrespect for obedience. It is the ultimate response of love and trust for God. But it is not the primary response to God. The summary truth of Scripture is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and actions. That is surrender. God said to a small group of men some years ago, “I want you to seek my face, not my will.” If you were to stand in the presence of Jesus, face to face, could you freely express your love for him, or would you expect him to be pleased and impressed by all your deeds and obedience?

I have a problem when Christians place obedience above knowing and loving God. Hence, the concept of surrender, for me, paves the way to proper obedience. You see, obedience often stays within defined parameters, whereas surrender is not even guided by such rules and expectations. Obedience often stems from fear of God, rather than love for God. Obedience can even lead to serving God and worshipping God, absent of love for God. Always talking of obedience to your children may in fact turn them away from faith, whereas talking to them of a relationship of love and trust, using language of the heart, may inspire their faith.

Now for a personal illustration. But let me set the stage with this cute little story.  A poor farmer was approached by a priest and asked, “If you had a horse would you give it to the Lord?” The farmer answered, “Yes.” “And if you had a cow?” “Absolutely!” “And a goat?” “Sure!” “A pig?” “That’s not fair”, protested the farmer, “You know I have a pig!”

When we retired Carol and I had plans of building a nice comfortable apartment. But as the time approached, we decided that the cost of $100,000 would use up much of our retirement funds and also make us far too comfortable to hear God’s voice beckon us to serve Him in new and challenging ways, even in the sunset of our lives. So, we chose to purchase a 400 square foot park model trailer to live in, costing only $15,000. No, I am not bragging, nor suggesting everyone should do the same. But my kids need to know, someday, why Mom and Dad did what they did. We were not necessarily being obedient, but we were choosing to be surrendered. We anxiously await each and every call of the Master to step out and serve.

Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to thee.

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.

Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold.

Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne.

(Some of my favorite lines from the great Frances Havergal hymn, “Take my Life and Let It Be”)