What generally follows an opening statement such as, “Have you heard”? Usually, it is gossip. Most often, it is half-truths missing some important facts! But not always!
Consider the reaction of people who heard Jesus teach: “And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29). Even those who opposed Jesus were shocked by the message Jesus proclaimed: “Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, ‘Why have you not brought Him?’ The officers answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this Man!'” (John 7:45-46).
Contrasting the wisdom of men against God’s revealed knowledge, Paul writes: “‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him'” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
In an earlier biblical account, Job admits that what he had heard about God was not even close to the reality of Who God actually is: “‘I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes'” (Job 42:5-6).
It isn’t so different for us, today. We hear things. We form beliefs around our understanding in a matter, and sometimes, not unlike Job and so many others in this deceived world, we are simply wrong! Jesus Christ gives us both a warning and an important key concerning what we hear. Note His statement in Mark 4:24: “‘Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.'”
Over the many years since God created man, the record stands that the vast and overwhelming majority have REFUSED to hear God! Even among those whom God has called, there is the dangerous potential of growing dull of hearing. Paul, in speaking of God’s Church, addresses a problem that would arise in our day: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
The warnings apply to all of us–perhaps right now, as never before! Have you heard?
