“Romeo left me.” This was the sign a homeless woman wrote and held on the side of a busy road in an effort to get attention and money. Three words told the story. Words are powerful and often few are needed to be heard. Elevator pitches (about the same time it takes to ride an elevator) sound simple but in reality, they are well thought out and practiced. Jesus cut to the core with His words. Often, they were in the form of questions. Who do you say I am? Matthew 16:15, “Why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31, “What are you thinking in your heart?” Luke 5:21, and the first question God ever asked mankind “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9. Is it time to quit talking and start asking a question and walking away? Is it time to be ready with your elevator pitch or 2/3-word poster?
We’re overwhelmed with noise today.
Research tells us that we decide within eight seconds to listen or pay attention to someone as we consume thousands of media messages daily. Restaurants, public spaces, gas stations and grocery stores all have media blaring at us. Our homes have the TV on as we sit with our computers open and music playing in earbuds all at the same time. Noise is deafening our senses and blocking messages we ought to hear. Social media and the internet are manipulating our choices by leading us into black holes – if you liked that, you will like this, as bots manipulate what we see and hear. Companies and organizations unrelenting draw us in to buy, watch, listen, follow or sign up. Is noise deadening your thinking?
God is interested in what we’re thinking because how we think affects our hearts.
Noise keeps us from hearing God. If we sincerely pray “thy will be done on earth” how will we know what that could possibly be if we can’t hear God’s voice? We make decisions based on what our brain tells us, but it is our heart that makes long term decisions and changes our eternal soul. To connect with God, we have to silence our mind and be mindful of how it is affecting our heart and eternal choices. The Bible says in Philippians 2:5 to “let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus” and the Passion Bible translates it to say, “Consider the example of Jesus… and let His mindset become your motivation.” Are you asking God questions?
God’s voice is heard in the question, in the pondering.
God never stops pursuing us. His questions infect our minds and change our hearts. Not knowing the answers is where God wants us. He holds the answers and wants us to learn to “lean not on our own understanding” Proverbs 3:5. It means trusting Him when our mind tells us it doesn’t make sense. It means trusting much more deeply from the heart. God’s first question asked in the garden of Eden reveals that we are His highest priority. He wanted to know where Adam and Eve were and continues to ask us where we are today. What are we thinking and how is that affecting our heart because our heart choices affect our life and eternal choices? In our busy digital lives, the first thing Satan wants to do is to distract us with noise, deafen our ears to God’s voice and keep us from remembering God’s deep and eternal love for us and where we are – what we are thinking and what we hold dearly in our heart.
Silence satan’s noise. Listen, God’s asking. Be His signpost.
