“Are you listening to me? Really listening?” (Matthew 11:15 MSG)
As it relates to Bible-based edification, the preacher, teacher, or writer’s text is relatively short. Sometimes it is very short. Case in point, “Jesus wept.” Only two words, read in less than three seconds. However, the preacher’s sermon, the teacher’s lesson, or the writer’s communication of the same word takes a much longer time. (You said, “I know that’s right,” didn’t you?) Another case in point, yesterday’s meditation was over nine hundred words. (Again, you said something like, “I know!” Sermons are anywhere from twenty-five minutes to an hour. Teaching session are an hour, and that follows a short time where the passage being studied is read. Writers can publish more than one book, perhaps an entire volume, on the same focal verses.
After the preaching, teaching, or following your reading of what has been written by an author, you might say, “He could have said that in two sentences, at the most.” Or, you might say, “He said all that to say…” as you summarize it in one sentence. Look at the pattern: short, long, short, or even shorter. The “short or shorter” is where you verbalize or at the least do a little self-talk in the confines of your mind showing that the preaching, teaching, or writing achieved its purpose. You get the point and that produces my response, “Great! That shows it’s working!” It shows you were really listening to what the Lord had to say, or as expressed in Jesus words, you responded correctly to the admonishment, “He that has ears, let him hear.”
What is my point? I suppose I am saying to you that you should never get disgruntled or distracted, detoured from paying attention or disgusted, because of the lengthy oral or written presentation of the word of God sent to you. Endure, be educated, be edified, and be equipped to summarize the Lord’s message to you, regardless of the brevity of your summary. Of course, as I have said before, “Don’t stop there!” Translate what you hear or read into action(s) that will benefit you, as well as others who see how the word that was explained changed you for the better or sustained your Christian walk. Now the closing verse should be a starting point for a lesson. Understanding that “to do is to learn,” explain what this verse means. Then write, in your own words a one sentence summary. You will find yourself back where you started, but with a greater understanding of the verse. Try it! Have a great Thursday! Be blessed!
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8 NKJV)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King