Photo and Commentary ©2023 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, December 15, 2023
Wednesday morning of this week I stopped by our post office to mail a couple of bills. When I emerged, I saw on the sidewalk the little plastic envelope above, containing what look like two earplugs. I did a quick Google Images check, and these plugs seem to be for sound-blocking rather than for swimming.
The reason I took this photo is that I remembered Jesus’ often-repeated challenges to His listeners as they were trying to puzzle through the implications of His parables or other difficult teachings. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” He said. (Matthew 11:15 NKJV]
Other translations put it this way: “Anyone with ears should listen and understand!” (NLT) “Are you listening to me? Really listening?” (Message)
The jaw-dropping truth is that a lot of people have allowed themselves to be fitted with spiritual earplugs, which tend to block out Bible truth which they don’t happen to like. What we need to do is “pull the plugs” so that we can clearly understand Bible truth, and be humble enough to examine and accept it.
We need to be like the Christians in the town of Berea, in northern Greece, as they listened to Paul preach the gospel. “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed . . . .” Acts 17:11 – 13 NKJV
Here are a couple great links with Bible verses about listening and discernment: