Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! I’m your host BJ Sipe – I’m a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In this podcast we take everyday, ordinary events and explore how they can teach us extraordinary, eternal truths. I’m so glad that you joined me for this episode. Now, let’s open up our minds, our hearts, and our Bible’s together.
My wife’s side of the family keeps on ongoing messaging group for us active to be able to share information and keep tabs on each other. Sometimes we just use it for fun, sharing meme’s or reminiscing on old pictures, etc. Other times we actually share important information with each other on it, so you never know what message is going to pop up. Well today my phone pinged, and I looked down to check it and saw some wonderful news. So my father in law, Shane Vaughan, has been dealing with difficulties with hearing for many, many years. Being a vet, one of the things that the VA offers our veterans is hearing aids to those who need them. However, as is the case with these things, it wasn’t that simple. It has been an ongoing deliberation back and forth for over 5 years trying to get Shane his hearing aids. Well, finally, after working with a different VA up in North Carolina rather than the one they had worked with for years down in Florida, Shane at long last received his hearing aids today. They are the high-tech ones that will connect via Bluetooth as well, which is pretty incredible. I’m certain that all of us know what hearing aids are, though many of us might not know exactly how they work. Hearing aids work to amplify the sound that is around you in three stages. First, the microphone that is built into the hearing aid will convert the sounds it pics up into a digital signal. Second, the amplifier in the hearing aid will take that same digital signal and strengthen it. The speaker will then reduplicate the amplified & strengthened signal into the ear, thus making it much easier to hear the things that are around you. It’s simple, really – but such an efficient tool for so many individuals who cannot hear well. I am sure that he’s going to love them when it starts getting really loud in the house with all the grandkids and he can just *click* turn things down a notch or two. I’m sure we’re going to love it because he won’t have to listen to the television at volume 9000 anymore, but then again we don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch. All jokes aside, I am so happy for him. Of all the things that I would want to retain in my life, I think hearing is the most important. I already have bad eyesight and need glasses to see, but hearing is so much more important to me. Hearing my kids laugh, hearing my wife sing, listening to music, to the wind, the birds, so many of my favorite things in this world are sounds – and I wouldn’t want to miss them. I’m sure that at some point I will need some hearing aids too, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
As I thought about this, I started to realize that as a matter of fact there is a hearing aid that each and every person on this planet needs. And no, I’m not talking about something that goes behind or in your ears, I’m talking about what’s going on in your heart. John Maxwell is an accomplished author & motivational speaker, and he suggests that the most important quality in being in leadership is having the ability to listen. And yet, for leaders and non-leaders alike, it appears that listening and being willing to hear others is not a quality that many people possess. James writes and says, “My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” (James 1:19-20) This is the goal, the benchmark – that each of us be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Unfortunately, at least in my own life, I know that more often than not the inverse is true – I don’t listen, am fast to speak, and quick tempered. We are all guilty of this, aren’t we? Someone says something that puts us off, so rather than actually listening to them & their perspective or even asking some clarifying questions I am just looking for the opportunity to interrupt or insert myself into the conversation. Quicky tempers flare, and before we know it we’re in a knockdown drag out fight with someone because we spoke instead of listening. Proverbs 18:13 says, “The one who gives an answer before he listens— this is foolishness and disgrace for him.” Why do we do this? I believe James gives us the answer in the very next verse, and it’s because we don’t have our “hearing aid” – humility. He goes on and says, “Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21) Pride is the factor that keeps us from being willing or able to hear what others are saying, because we don’t feel the need to listen in the first place. With a heart full of pride, we arrogantly assume that our way is the best way, and therefore others actually need to be listening to us rather than the other way around. Pride is more concerned about winning an argument with someone, and listening has very little to do with that. What we require to truly be able to listen to others, or even what God has to say through his Word, is humility. When we have enough humility to realize that maybe I don’t understand the whole story, we will be ready and willing to listen. When we have enough humility to recognize that perhaps I’m not right in this situation even though I feel that I am, we will be quick to listen to the other person’s concerns and perspective. When we have humility, we understand that others around us have just as much of a right to be heard as I do, and they must be afforded that opportunity. Take a hard look at yourself, and ask yourself this: which of these sounds more like you in your relationships to others? With your spouse? Your employer? Your elders? Is there constantly, disagreement, and dissention in these relationships? Maybe the problem isn’t them, maybe the problem is that you’re kind of arrogant and full of yourself. Maybe the answer is that you forgot to put on your hearing aid, humility. As Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:5, “All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Put it on every day, before every conversation, and every interaction. You might just be surprised at how much you’ve been missing, and how quickly it will amplify others around you in your life.
Thank you for tuning in to today’s episode, and I would invite you back Tuesdays-Fridays for a brand-new episode each day. If you haven’t already, be sure to find us on Facebook for occasional announcements and special video sessions. If you have benefited from this podcast, please if you’re able be sure to share it with someone else that you think could benefit from it as well. Until next time, know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each & every day set our minds above.