Good morning:
Most of us have probably done it. Your phone rings or buzzes, but before answering, you check the number to see whether you really want to talk to the person calling. You may decide that you already put in a long day at work and are not going to answer a call from the office or store. The call from someone with whom you had an argument may be left to go to voicemail. In some cases, you may even block a number so that you won’t be bothered by another annoying call offering a deal on a vacation condo. It’s helpful to screen calls. Some don’t need to be answered. Some can be put off. But have you ever avoided answering a call, not because it was unimportant, but because you just didn’t want to deal with an uncomfortable, difficult situation? We know it doesn’t solve anything, but we can still convince ourselves that if we just ignore it, it will go away.
We are guilty of doing that with God sometimes too. He calls us in His holy Word. We have our Bibles at home. Our Bible classes and Sunday services call each week, but we put off picking up and listening to the Lord because we don’t want to be bothered or because we don’t want to face what we know He wants to tell us. We don’t want to be reminded that the sinful habit we’ve fallen into really needs to be confessed to Him. We know He is going to tell us to forgive the person who unfairly accused or criticized us, but we want to hold onto a grudge. The illogical thought crosses our mind that maybe if we just ignore Him, the problem will go away or He will forget. But it won’t and He won’t.
As a warning Jesus once quoted Isaiah: “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” (Matt. 13:15). When we close our ears to the Lord we miss hearing Him tell us that we have broken His law and have brought His anger and punishment upon us. But that’s not all. We also miss hearing what He has done to save us and take away our guilt and dread of facing Him. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (Jn. 3:17). God doesn’t force us to confess our sins and then gleefully condemn us to hell. He calls us to repentance, so that He can pull us close, embrace us with His love, and assure us that Jesus suffered our punishment for us.
What a shame it would be if we ignored a call which would be a life-changer for good. That’s why Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mk. 4:9). May we gladly listen today and look forward to His call again tomorrow.
In His service,
Pastor
Tomorrow’s services are at 8:00 and 9:30 a.m. Here is the link for signing up for July services: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040A4CA4AC2FABF49-church.
There is also a signup for the church picnic on July 26. It will be helpful to the activity committee to have an idea of how many are going in advance.
The activity committee is asked to meet at 9:00 tomorrow, between services.
