Listening | A Communication Series

So, today we're going talk about listening, and I often think about listening as sort of a prereq for everything else. You know, you're told in church, like, Love God. Love your neighbor. But my experience of neighbor love is that if you can't listen, you're going to suck at loving your neighbor. Like, you might be fine, like, delivering a care package or doing something practical, but when it comes to the deeper stuff, particularly the more intimate relationships in your life, if you cannot listen, you cannot love. [00:24:58] (30 seconds)  #ListeningIsLove

Most of us probably never do this. I think most of us should do it probably at least daily with someone. Do it at work, do it with a kid, do it with a grandkid, do it whomever, a neighbor. Just practice. I guarantee you, if you do not practice, when the rubber hits the road, you're not going to be able to do it. Three would be, I just even wonder, like, for some of us, maybe the next step is honestly just meditating on how God listens to you and welcomes you as a way to imagine, what would it be like for me to be in relationship with other people in the way that God is in relationship with me? [01:16:47] (45 seconds)  #PracticeListeningDaily

They're like, hey, I know everyone here wants to share their side of the story. Right? Feeling like they haven't been heard, and now they're pissed off at that guy who's not listening to them as they don't listen to them. Right? It's like this just chaotic mess. So in response, James says something like, Yo, be quick to listen, slow to speak. Right? Because James knows that when we're chatting over coffee after church or in the midst of a serious conflict, when we listen, we actually validate the worth of another human being. [00:32:00] (42 seconds)  #QuickToListen

that the key of listening is understanding. Oh, I get what you're saying. Here are some they're like, oh, yeah, I get it. Okay. But I don't feel gotten. And if I don't feel gotten, I don't care if you understand. The goal of accurate reflection is so that someone feels understood, not whether you understand. Pivotal. [00:50:28] (27 seconds)  #MakeThemFeelUnderstood

When I talk about listening, I don't mean just like taking in facts. You know, have you ever talked to someone and they're like, I understand what you're saying. But the point is with listening isn't for you to understand it, but it's for them to feel understood. There's a fundamental difference between those. Right? Listening involves making space for another human being that is dynamic and different than you. [00:25:28] (28 seconds)  #ListeningIsMakingSpace

Right? God's his love for us, his willingness to listen actually shapes sort of the underpinnings of our entire relationship with him. Right? If God doesn't listen, what do we have this morning? I was thinking about just like the ups and downs of life. You know, it's like you get sick or you're celebrating or maybe you're cracking open the bible with a coffee in the morning and you're wondering, you know, does God listen not just to the words in my mouth or the narrative in my head, but the cry of my heart? And the universal witness of the scriptures is yes. [00:29:54] (41 seconds)  #GodListensAlways

Right? Listening does not mean agreement. Listening is a way to express love and value. Right? God listens because he loves us, and he wants us to know that whether we've nailed it or we've totally messed up, he is there for us. Right? And the point is, in the scriptures, we are invited to follow God's lead by listening so that we can love. Right? He models, we follow, and we stumble about trying by the grace of the Holy Spirit to guide us along the way. [00:34:25] (44 seconds)  #ListenToLoveNotAgree

This could be in your childhood or your twenties or your thirties, but the truth is we live in a sinful, broken world. And if you are a follower of Jesus, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that you are beloved of the father no matter what you do. And it's easy to develop broken relational patterns, ways of relating or not relating to people. The truth is, like, for all of us, if we want to be present so that we can love well, we actually need to bring our identity, these patterns of brokenness, back into the presence of a loving God who wants to actually forgive us and wash us in grace. [00:46:27] (49 seconds)  #BringBrokennessToGod