Listening Faithfully

"There is a kind of listening with half an ear that presumes already to know what the other person has to say. It is an impatient, in-attentive listening, that despises the brother and is only waiting for a chance to speak and thus get rid of the other person. This is no fulfillment of our obligation, and it is certain that here too our attitude toward our brother only reflects our relationship to God. . . . But Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by Him who is Himself the great listener and whose work they should share. We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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I must confess first that this seems to be a sin I commit more and more frequently through my years as a Christian. I also think refusing to really listen to our brothers and sisters is a great temptation for those of us who are Reformed and believe because of it that we have heard it all already . . . "there is nothing new under the sun." I am beginning to see the source of this sin coming from a wretched selfishness and a haughty spirit. How often we suffer from this nature of the old Adam.

I also see a great opportunity for us to be faithful in this area within the body of believers I am joined to in Bozeman. Bozeman, I have found, is one of the more politically active towns in all of Montana, and opinions are as plentiful as caddis flies on the Yellowstone in early July. Our church has also been blessed with many intellectual minds from all walks of life, and they (we) all bring quite a plethora of ideas on working out our faith in different areas. One of our biggest temptations, and therefore frustrations, is not respectfully listening to each other: being willing to leave our ideas behind in order to hear out our brother . . . this is really an act of humbling ourselves and laying down our life for our brother; it is an act of love. At the same time, when we neglect to listen to our brother we will also be neglecting to listen to the will of our Heavenly Father; so we should not be surprised when our ideas, no matter how biblical or righteous they seem to be, are trampled under foot.

I would also push the argument that when we fail to respectfully listen to our brother's ideas, it will make him even less likely to come to us when he has something to confess or needs to be ministered too. Of course most of us are always willing to be there to minister to a brother in his time of need, but how likely are they (how likely are we) to go seek someone out who has not loved them (us) before this time of need. When we repent, we go to the foot of the cross because we find Him there, who gave up His life for us; we are called and commanded to minister to each other, but we need to prove we are willing to die for each other first in order to do this successfully.

On the subject of listening, I have to add that I hear the sound of crying coming from downstairs . . . the cry from an answer to prayer, from promises being fulfilled, from a source of joy and wonder, from a spring of hope, from a son of Adam, from a child of God, or as he is called by his Christian name: Tjabe Arthur Koenen . . . my newest neighbor who hates taking baths.