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Resources & Links > Bible Studies > Christian Living

Christian Living

Learning to Listen

from a Bible study by Nate Loesch

The art of listening is a gift you can give, no matter who you are. And you can give it to anyone. It doesn't cost a cent. Yet, to a person who needs a listener, it's a gift beyond price. Each of us can start today, wherever we find ourselves, to learn to listen.

The Key Verse

• James 1:19 -- "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry."

When people meet us, they will and should see the Good News in us by our life and actions. We should be a "winsome and attractive" witness, as radio personality Greg Koukl says.

Additional Verses

• Mark 4:24-25 -- "Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you -- and even more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."

Listen carefully; hold on to and be accountable for what you hear.

• John 12:47 -- "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it."
• Proverbs 22:17 -- "Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach."

Listen, and not blab and jabber. Learn, and not interrupt.

• Acts 4:20 -- "For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
• 1 John 1:1,3,5 -- "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched -- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ... We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may also have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ... This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."

If we believe Jesus is our Lord and God, we have to pass on what we believe. We're not going to keep it a secret, yet we're not going to brag about it.

• Romans 10:14 -- "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

Preaching, teaching and sharing is bringing Good News to others.

A gossip was telling a well-known Hollywood actress all about the marital difficulties of a couple who had moved in next door.

"Everyone is talking," said the informer. "Some are taking her part and some, his."

"And," replied the actress, "I suppose a few eccentric individuals are minding their own business?"

Are You a Good Listener?

• Are you eager to learn about other persons, places and things?
• Can you put yourself in the other person's shoes?
• Do you tune in on the other speaker's feelings as well as the words he uses?
• Do you try to overcome your own emotional attitudes and prejudgments?
• Do you work to identify the main ideas, attitudes, and feelings being communicated?
• Do you avoid interrupting? Especially, do you curb the impulse to complete the other person's sentences?
• Do you ever ask for a "feedback" on how people rate you as a listener?
• Do you consciously practice listening skills?
• In short, do you listen to others as you would like to be listened to?

Pray...

Teach me to listen, Lord,
to those nearest me,
my family, my friends, my co-workers.
Help me to be aware that
no matter what words I hear,
the message is,
"Accept the person I am. Listen to me."

Teach me to listen, Lord,
to those far from me--
the whisper of the hopeless,
the plea of the forgotten,
the cry of the anguished.

Teach me to listen, Lord,
to myself.
Help me to be less afraid,
to trust the voice inside--
in the deepest part of me.

Teach me to listen, Lord,
for Your voice--
in busyness and in boredom,
in certainty and in doubt,
in noise and in silence.
Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen.

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