3-17-2025

Good Morning All,

    Proverbs 4:20-22; “My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.  Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.  For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.”

    The wisdom of your father or grandfather.  Often times we fail to heed it.  It is just one of those things where we often have to make the mistakes which we are warned about.  We sometimes have to learn the hard way.  Some lessons we learn early on in a painful manner, like licking a frozen metal handrail.  Some we learn a little later on like when we are told to always do our best.  On that occasion when we don’t, we tend to remember the sting of not trying.

    Some advice, if unheeded, can be very painful.  The failure to follow the care in selecting a spouse, a profession, or other personal choices can be very painful, as we are reminded that Father actually does know best. 

     We find that in our lives one of our greatest weaknesses is that we fail to truly listen to what the other person is saying.  It seems that the closer the person is related to us the more difficult the listening becomes.  We often hear the first and maybe even the second word before we either tune them out or begin to formulate our response.  When it comes to some of our most important relationships we have, we seem to listen the least.

     Yet it is listening that we must do the most.  This is because, first and foremost, God’s Word for us is spoken as all words are spoken.  We must listen to the Word spoken.  God speaks to us, and we must listen; not just to the first or second word but to the whole message.  We need to give it our full attention and hear God’s entire message.

    God’s entire message for us is found in Jesus.  His sacrifice on the cross speaks all of God’s love for us.  God’s message to you is that he truly loves you, wants to save you, bring you into his family and return you to the loving relationship which he created us for.  This is why his words have healing and give us life.  His Word is life for us.  It brings us back from being dead in sin to being alive in Christ.

    We keep God’s Word in our heart cherishing it, holding it close as the words of comfort, the words of hope, as the message of our only hope to salvation.  We hear God’s Word, we revel in the Word, and we feast in the Word.  We also need to remember that hearing is an active action verb. We “hear,” that is respond to God’s Word. We take action, like trusting in the promise He makes to us.  God’s Word provides for us the sustenance for our soul and our spirit.  Our hope is in the Word, but we must hear it.  We must not let the noise of this world, its sin and corruption, drown out the Word.  God’s Word to us is life be sure to hear it.

Dear Father, too often we fail to hear your wonderful Word of life and salvation.  We are left with the world’s noise and confusion.  Give us strength and wisdom to follow your Word and to trust in our salvation through you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret