“Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.” – Ecclesiastes 4:13
We live in an age in which our certainty vastly exceeds our knowledge! Everyone’s an expert if he or she is loud enough! To avoid the risk of changing our minds, we repeat (or re-tweet) what we already think louder and stronger. We seek out only those opinions, advice, and articles that affirm our politics, science, economics, lifestyle, etc. We even distort God’s Word to conform to our worldview, rather than altering our worldview to conform to God’s Word (this is why some American Christians are adamant Jesus is a Republican while others are just as adamant than He’s a Democrat).
Too many of us too often are like the old and foolish king who no longer knows how to take advice. To take advice, we must truly be willing and able to listen. We must seek out and genuinely listen to perspectives, interpretations, understandings, and facts that are different from our own. That doesn’t mean we have to be persuaded by them, but we must remember how to listen.
Slow down. Listen. Truly listen. You shouldn’t agree with everything you hear – if you do, you need to find new people to listen to. You shouldn’t take all advice that’s given by humans, but if you don’t take some advice to change, you’re definitely missing something.
More important, come before God’s Word with the integrity to ask what it truly says rather than celebrating how it always seems to agree with you. Slow down and truly listen to God’s Word. If your daily encounters with Scripture don’t occasionally ruffle your feathers, leave you unsettled about yourself, or make you angry, then ask God to open your eyes, ears, mind, and heart to His Word, because you aren’t listening well!