“Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.” James 1:22 NKJV.

Inattention to God and His Word is simply detrimental to spiritual life.

My thoughts and comments today are about “inattentive.”

By design, God created you with five, primary senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. In one way or another, all of those contribute significantly to your ability to navigate the physical world. They are complementary and each have valuable potential to serve you. See Proverbs 20:12 NIV. The capacity for sight and hearing are not synonymous with the willingness to see and hear, although they should be. As my friend, Holman, aged, his hearing grew more difficult. In a leadership meeting, he said, “Pastor, I don’t hear as well as I once did, so I am learning to listen more closely.” Be wise enough to watch and listen to God, as though life depends on it; it does.

Jesus described a group of people who had the full capacities of those physical senses but made a choice not to implement them profitably. “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah . .” Matthew 13:13 NIV. Does that ever describe you? Physically, their senses were unimpaired; by choice, they became spiritually impaired. That’s just sad. They were neither blind nor deaf; they were simply deliberate in their refusal to see or hear. They could see, but preferred not to see what they did not want to see; they could hear, but chose not to listen to what they did not want to hear.

Long before, Isaiah predicted the result of such inattention, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” Vs. 14. Is this why many Christians are Biblically illiterate and spiritually inattentive? Isaiah also diagnosed the cause of this spiritual ailment. “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.” Vs. 15. Inattention to God and His Word is simply detrimental to spiritual life.

Here is what I have discovered about God: He can restore sight to blind eyes, but He will not open closed eyes that refuse to see; He can restore hearing to deaf ears, but will not open closed ears which do not wish to listen. Your ability to listen and perceive diminishes with your unwillingness to hear distinctly or see clearly.

God promises the blessings of understanding and healing to anyone whose heart is open and responsive to His Word at all times. “. . they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. Blessed are your eyes because they see, and you ears because they hear.” Vs. 15-17. But God expects still more. Obedience is God’s expectation.

Throughout my lifetime, I desire to be watching diligently for what God is doing and listening carefully to all God is saying. “Receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves . . he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:21-25 NKJV. You have a spiritual accountability to know and obey God’s Word. Treat His Word as priceless, imperishable, and indispensable. Read Job 23:11-12 NKJV.

My prayer for you today is that you love God’s Word and follow it diligently.