Day 2624 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Proverbs 1:33 NIV

Whoever has ears, let them hear. That's one of those messages that you'll find all over the Bible. It's found nearly ten times in the Gospels alone! As one of my college professors always used to say, "If I say something more than once, it's probably something you should remember." That's where our modern world has gone off course. There's plenty of messages. There are plenty of people who love to talk. There are no shortage of folks who are willing to share whatever's on their mind. But we don't listen.

In a society like we've built, all the talking just drowns itself out. People talk over one another. One message gets shared louder and more frequently than another. People only pay attention to things they already agree with and completely tune out everything that goes against their opinions or comes from a different perspective. So we've gotten to this place where it almost doesn't matter what you say or how badly you want those around you to hear it. We simply can't force people to listen.

But that's a huge problem when it comes to our faith and the calling of the cross. Yesterday we discussed the verse just before this one, and it's definitely not one of those warm and fuzzy verses. Proverbs 1:32 talks about the dangers of complacency and foolishly continuing to live apart from God. And that road leads to death. If we refuse to listen, we will pay the price. If we refuse to change, we will suffer for it. If we only pretend to hear the message of the Gospel yet fail to let us lead us to the repentance that is necessary for salvation, then our sins are still with us and our blood is on our own head.

And sadly, that makes it pretty easy to see the reality in the Bible telling us that the road is narrow that leads to life and that very few will find it. It requires us to listen. It requires us to learn from a different point of view than the selfishness that we've grown accustomed to following. The path that Christ paved with the cross requires us to stop all of our wayward living, lay down our foolish ways, and listen to the message that He came to this earth to share with us.

That message tells us that if we don't change our ways then we're going to die because it. All of our time spent refusing to listen to anyone else only keeps us from learning. And if we're not learning then we're not changing. And if we're not changing then we're not growing. And if we're not growing then we're slowly dying because we refuse to admit that we need the nourishment that's found in Christ. We can't live without Him. He is the Way, the Truth, and THE LIFE. Without Him, without His guidance, without His mercy, without His healing, WE CAN'T LIVE!

But thankfully, He gave His life so that we could live. He traded His life to redeem back all those years we wasted doing things our way and refusing to listen to anyone who tried to warn us of the dangers in doing so. Change doesn't happen without a catalyst. We need something to open our eyes to the necessity of changing something otherwise we will never choose to change anything. Jesus is that catalyst in our lives. He is the message that helps us see how much we need to change. He is the start of a new life lived for new goals following new paths toward a far better destination than our way leads toward.

But we have to listen. That's why I wanted to share this verse today after the warning of yesterday's message. Foolishness, complacency in our broken ways, continuing to wander away from God will not end well in any way. But we have another option. We can listen to the message that Jesus gives us. We can listen to the warnings telling us to turn around. We can listen to the calling of the cross to turn off the path of selfishness and humble ourselves to learning from our loving Father.

And if we can do that, if we can lay down our pride and stop acting like we know everything, then we will find out very quickly how badly we need to learn a new way of doing things. And Christ will lead us there and help us learn His way. And in His way we will find safety. We will find peace. We will find hope. We will find freedom, and mercy, and guidance, and healing, and a whole new life that is set on a course that leads to eternal salvation. If we learn from Christ and set our hearts on following His example, then we don't have to live in fear of the death and despair that our sinful ways had earned. He took that for us. And knowing that He took that suffering on our behalf should help us finally get the message that we have to change!

Friends, this world runs around under this illusion of freedom and ease that looks awfully appealing. But behind those smiling faces are hearts that are hurting and scared. They're hurting from the weight of sin and shame. They're scared because we all know that wrongs will not go unpunished. They're lost and losing hope every single day, but they keep themselves propped up by believing this lie that tells them they're free in their sinful lives. They learn to ignore that feeling that they’re doing wrong by trusting this lie that has them thinking they know better.

But one day these lives will end and if we’ve spent them ignoring the message of the Gospel then we will have to face those fears of punishment being realized without any time left to do anything about it. Don't do that to yourself. Don't buy this lie that we're free to do as we wish without any consequence. That nonsense really is too good to be true. So please don't fall for it anymore because it only keeps us from listening to the message of the cross and being changed, healed, and saved by the blood of our Savior.

Without His gift, we have nothing to hope for. But with His gift, we have nothing to fear. There isn't an easier choice!

#LeaveNoSoulUntold