Listen to Me!

Listen to Me!
Is there a person in your past or present who comes to mind when you hear the emphatic command: “Listen to me!”  You may recall this online fave from some years ago featuring a 3-year-old child saying “Linda, Linda, listen to me!” (see link at the end).

Take a moment and consider the differences and commonalities between the words discipline and disciple.  Then read these great words from the Bible book of Proverbs:
“Now then, my children, listen to me;
    blessed are those who keep my ways.
Listen to my instruction and be wise;
    do not disregard it.
Blessed are those who listen to me,
    watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.
For those who find me find life
    and receive favor from the LORD."  Proverbs 8:32-35
There is an interesting technique of writing in this passage called parallelism. Notice that the second line of a couplet repeats, enhances, or contrasts with the first in order to emphasize the idea. Look at it again to see this construction.
Now look back through it one more time and notice our possible contrasting actions. Develop a list of “Helpful, Growing Actions”. Then, next to your first list, make another list of opposites, which would be negatives. Examples:
Helpful, Growing Actions:
Listen
Listen to instruction
Be wise
Negative Alternative Actions:
Ignore
Ignore instruction
Be foolish

4832 Ponderings

• What keeps you from listening and responding to wisdom?
• Think about the relationship between thinking, learning, reflecting, and action.
• What other words could you use to expand on the word “action”?

God’s Word motivates, inspires, and empowers us to action.

“Do what God’s word says. Don’t merely listen to it, or you will fool yourselves. If someone listens to God’s word but doesn’t do what it says, he is like a person who looks at his face in a mirror, studies his features, goes away, and immediately forgets what he looks like.” James 1:22-24