Spiritual Ups and Downs

This a guest post from my good friend, John!

Do We Have Selective Hearing With God?

Do we have selective hearing with God? 

That's a serious question, in fact, quite a dangerous question if we allow ourselves to explore the thoughts that come with it. 

We go to church on Sundays and sometimes Wednesdays. We praise God. We read books that expand our knowledge of Him. 

But do we really hear God?

I feel like growing up in the church and being surrounded by Bible verses has almost desensitized me from the reality of them. 

I read over 1 Corinthians 13 like "yeah, love is patient, love is kind..." but I don't grasp the reality of it, the way that God literally breathed every single one of these words. 

Lately, I feel like everyone's been throwing around the "Pick up your cross and follow me" verse, but do we know what that actually means? I don't. 

I've been going through Acts lately and it troubles me to see the difference between the church then and the church now. 

I'm guilty of slamming the "American church" but I'm completely in the wrong when I do that. 

The truth is that even the churches that made up the Early Church got distracted. 

They forgot their mission and ignored God. 

Who are we to judge, when our mission is to love?  

Do we realize that we have selective hearing with God? 

We hear God say "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" but we don't think about that being in our own backyards. When we hear that, we're like "Okay, God! Take me where you want me!" 

But sometimes He wants us to bake cookies for our neighbors or hang out with awesome old people at nursing homes. 

Yet, we find ourselves overtaken with distractions. 

I'm so guilty of trying to get a group together to go to the nursing home or to make hospital visits where we hand out cute little balloons to children and it just not happening. When we can't find a time that works for everyone, I'm secretly relieved because it's easier to be distracted and to go through my days not engaging my soul in Kingdom work. 

But you know what's funny? 

God never calls us to the easy.

He calls us to engage our heart, soul, and mind into everything we do. 

When we look into these things, we always see Jesus. 

And there is nothing greater than seeing Jesus. Ever.

So I'm done not actively caring. 

I'm done being distracted. 

I'm done being obsessed with myself and what is easy.

I'm ready to be propelled into eternal purpose and destiny because Jesus is alive and well and speaking.