As we’ve been reading through Colossians we came across the word “obey”. In the Greek, it is a combination of “under” and “listen”. This week at the Berean National Convention, now called “Connect”, our speaker Tyce Jensen shared about that word, but from the Old Testament book of Joshua. The word in Hebrew is “shema”. It does mean “hear”, and is used often in phrases like “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is One”.
But the word has a deeper meaning than just ‘hear’. It includes the thought of “hear to obey”, or “hear to follow”.
This is the Lord’s desire for us. He doesn’t just want people that “hear” His word. He wants us to be a people that “act” on what He says, a people that obey Him.
Jesus parable of the houses built on the rock or sand emphasizes that also.
Matthew 7:24–27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
The difference between these two people is not whether they HEARD the Word. They both heard. But the difference is their response. One ACTED, one did not.
We are blessed to hear the Word regularly. We have it available to read and study. We have teachers and pastors that work hard to present the Word clearly.
But hearing is not enough. God looks for “obedience”. “To hear is to obey” ought to become our motto.
As we move through the transition season ahead of us, let us be a people that hear and ACT on the Word of God.
Pastor John
