"Turn on Your Hearing Aids"

 

“Turn on Your Hearing Aids”

 

In our 55+ community many residents wear hearing aids. Reliable statistics are hard to come by but my limited research shows that around 30 million Americans have hearing loss and the number appears to be growing due to an aging population, lack of adequate protection, loudness of music and other factors. So it seems that hearing aids would be a good area for long term investments.

An 80-something-year-old lady in one of the churches we served had significant hearing loss so sat in areas of the auditorium towards which the speakers were aimed with her aids turned up. And since Sunday School rooms weren’t equipped with sound systems she’d set her aids at the highest level. One Sunday she came to me before class (we had one summer class in which the teachers rotated) and asked in her thick accent. “You teach Sunday School today?” When I said yes she responded, “Goot. I leave my hearing aids on.” (I’ve sometimes wondered under whose teaching she’d turn them down but that would be in the TMI file.)

This memory from 35 years ago struck me as I read Jesus’ “Parable of the Sower” in Mark 4. After describing the results of seed being sown in or on various types of ground the Master said, “(The one) who has ears to hear, let (him or her) hear.” (Mark 4:9). This phrase appears seven times in the gospels and (in the singular form) eight times in Revelation, all but one from the lips of Jesus. By using this expression He was emphasizing the importance of His words, much as He did in His “Verily, verily” statements. But there are times when we turn our spiritual hearing aids down or even off when the Word tells us something we don’t want to do. But does doing so negate our responsibility to obey? Hardly!

The Lord’s brother warns us, “Don’t merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22, emphasis added). So what we hear is to be put into action (see Jesus’ illustration in Matthew 7:24-27). In addressing each of the seven churches in Asia (present-day Turkey) in Revelation 2 and 3 He said, “Let the listener hear what the Spirit says to the Churches….” (Phillips). So might we infer that the Holy Spirit is our “divine hearing aid”? If so, we turn Him off to our own peril. Let’s not run this risk—let’s turn our hearing aids on.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan