3 Postures Of Listening
The world is fast-paced and loud - everyone and everything vying for your attention. Humans live on information overload, burdened by the business of busyness. So, when you consider who you're becoming, where and who you give your attention to matters. Your attention is one of the most valuable commodities. You will ultimately be shaped by who you listen to and how you listen.
What has been your understanding and experience of God? A God who is distracted and distant? A God who only speaks and never listens?
Read through the Psalms - the collective prayer book of God's people. Listening is a posture God takes towards people. God so often is communicating, "I see you. I hear you. I know you."
Read through the Gospels. Jesus saw and acknowledged people in a way that created an invitational space for people of all kinds! Watch his conversations - Jesus is attentive, responsive, insightful. Jesus shows both who God is as a listener, and who people are at their best (like him).
Listening is a posture people are invited to take toward God, and toward others. How will people know you follow a listening God if you are not a listening person? This overly-noisy world makes it hard to listen well and deeply. You can't listen in a hurry. God invites you to slow down to receive, then demonstrate his value and love for all people. Here are 3 postures of listening that God invites you to practice out of James 1:19:
Quick To Listen: Really listening seems to be a lost art. Turn your feet toward people. Let people see you turn your phone off. Take a moment to enter spaces fully present to the people around you. Use your senses to ground you. Use your breath to steady you. Be quick to show up curious to pursue understanding, listening deeply.
Slow To Speak: Listening to understand and not respond or defend means shelving your opinions, fears, and desires long enough to receive and see people as they are. Isn't this what God does with us over and over again? You will have to choose not to be offended and to withhold judgment to make and offer space for people to practice vulnerability, which cultivates a deepening community.
Slow To Get Angry: When everyone is drawing lines and picking sides, followers of Jesus are invited to create space, to lean in, to show up with curiosity on Jesus' behalf. This isn't the easy thing to do - in fact, it's way easier to be angry and divisive. But, what better way for people to encounter the truth of God with people who begin by listening and loving, even in the midst of controversy and challenge. Too many are beginning with condemnation when Jesus always begins with connection. When you follow Jesus' example to love this way, people will find themselves amongst a people who listen to God, encountering his grace, love, and truth in a tangible, impactful, transformative way!
This week, reflect: If listening is an expression of value and love, what does your frequency and quality of listening to God and others reveal about your value and love for God and others? May you show up quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.