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| My bicycle commute "bat bridge" |
There's a bridge on my way to work that I ride under (I'm a bicycle commuter).
It is home to a small colony of bats (not quite the 1.5 million that live under the Austin Congress Avenue bridge).
But their tiny chirping "bat chatter" is going on every time I ride to and from work.
Tiny sounds. But when there are thousands of them - you can't ignore it.
Are your ears awake?
As a child I worked with my dad at a turkey farm.
The baby chicks would arrive just after they'd hatched and start their young lives in our nice warm, comfortable barn.
If a couple of them were alone they sounded like this.
Now imagine that sound times 10,000 - because there were 20 thousand of these little chirping chicks.
Tiny sounds. But when there are thousands of them - you can't ignore it.
It's not only directed to the churches to whom these portions of scripture are written - but to me the reader, too.
Am I hearing the sounds?
Of salvation and thankfulness?
Or calling attention to sloppy, slothful, sinful living?
Notice how Jesus addresses the churches (there are 7 "mini-letters" to each church in these 2 chapters).
In 5 of the 7 churches - He wakes up their ears by calling attention to what they are doing right.
He knows that we love to be praised and raised up as "good examples".
We like to listen to that.
But in all 7 churches - right after that - he calls them out with constructive criticism.
In some cases - very harsh constructive criticism.
But when we go so far wrong - it takes strong words (and pictures) to get our attention.
And in most of the cases he drives the point home by asking "Are your ears awake?".
Are YOUR ears awake?
=====================Am I hearing the sounds?
Of salvation and thankfulness?
Or calling attention to sloppy, slothful, sinful living?
Notice how Jesus addresses the churches (there are 7 "mini-letters" to each church in these 2 chapters).
In 5 of the 7 churches - He wakes up their ears by calling attention to what they are doing right.
He knows that we love to be praised and raised up as "good examples".
We like to listen to that.
But in all 7 churches - right after that - he calls them out with constructive criticism.
In some cases - very harsh constructive criticism.
But when we go so far wrong - it takes strong words (and pictures) to get our attention.
And in most of the cases he drives the point home by asking "Are your ears awake?".
Are YOUR ears awake?
Jesus
=====================
My world today will be full of noise.
Trying to distract me from the tiny sounds of salvation planted in Your Word and in the thousand blessings I'm enjoying.
Wake up my ears to hear.
Open my eyes to see.
Warm my heart to share Your love and salvation story.
Making my own tiny sounds!
Join my tiny sounds with thousands of other Christians into something we can't ignore.
Amen.=====================
TIP: click the Bible Reference and then "more details" to get hyperlinks that open Bible Gateway
What's the big deal about Jesus?
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