July 8th, 21

How's your hearing? Are you dull of hearing? Have your decisions lacked discernment? And have they resulted in destruction? Are you stuck? Are you still making the same mistakes over and over again, maybe there's something wrong with your hearing. Maybe you're not hearing the right thing. Maybe you've become spiritually dull. That's what the writer of Hebrews seems to be concerned about here in verse 11. He says, there's so much more I'd like to say. But it's difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull, and don't seem to listen, there's so much more that he wants to tell them about the life they have in Christ. But they become dull, unable to listen, there's something wrong with their hearing, or maybe they're just hearing too much of the wrong thing.

And the same can be true of us. But there's good news. There's a remedy for this hearing problem. And it has to do with milk and meat. Babies love Milk. Milk is good. Peter tells us, like newborn babies crave spiritual milk so that you'll be able to grow up in your salvation. That's from 1st Peter 2:2. We're supposed to cry out for it for this nourishment, and desire the Word of God. The problem is not with the milk, the problem is with the desire or the lack thereof, we can lose our desire, and that has a profound impact on our ability to hear and make good decisions. Hearing too much of the wrong thing can actually dull our ability to hear what needs to be heard. But the good news is that there is a remedy for desire and dullness. When we come to the Word of God, and we cry out for it and we learn through time to savor it. And through the Spirit's enabling, we begin to see the grace, the love the mercy that is revealed in the face of Christ. Well, this becomes our milk for each day, and that or he begins to heal our hearing. It is the savoring and the desiring of that spiritual milk that encounter that apocalypsis over time, leads to the desire for meat. And meat leads to discernment and maturity, we're told, maturity is not found in managing sin better, or keeping up better with our piety checklist. maturity is marked by a desire for God. It is a dynamic relationship of dependence and joy, where we are able to hear and respond to God in the moment. Our character is shaped by God, so that in the moment, we have his wisdom and his discernment in whatever circumstances we might be facing. That's a meaty life. That's real Christian character. It is a life that is becoming fully alive in Christ, a life that hears God well. And Jesus says, My sheep hear My voice. I know them and they follow Me. The way we improve our hearing is by coming to the word each day, savoring that word, crying out desiring it, the savored word over time develops desire, a desire for the living word, the Incarnate Word, the meaty word, Jesus himself, who feeds us from himself. from him, we partake of His mercy, His grace, and his love. And that diet of meat results in righteous, wise living a moment by moment dynamic interaction and fellowship with God. Savor the word as you desire for his word grows, the meat of the word will bring about the growth and character and maturity that you were made for. And that's the desire that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family for my wife, my daughters, my son, and that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so

You are loved!