Hearing is good. Understanding is better. Action is needed! Sometimes we think knowledge is good. But what do we do with knowledge for the sake of knowledge? We can gain information by hearing something. It can turn into knowledge if we understand it. But it becomes useful when we act on it.
As an example, take the adjacent image. I asked Bing Chat Image Creator for an image with the same person appearing three times. In the first one she is thinking. In the second one she understands an idea. In the third one, she is acting on the idea. Make it look like a water color.
On the left, she hears something. Hearing is good. It provides an opportunity to think about something. An opportunity we can use or waste.
In the middle, the light bulb goes on, to indicate at least a certain level of understanding. Understanding is better than merely hearing and remembering, but learning nothing from what’s heard.
Then on the right, she’s thinking about what she can do with the understanding she now has. Hearing has led to understanding, which led to thinking about how to use that knowledge. Even here though, unless that action plan from thinking about how to put that understanding to a practical use, the opportunities that could have come from hearing are at best delayed, and at worst wasted.
This is true for so many things. No, we don’t go out and act on everything we hear. We hear too much and we don’t have enough time to act on everything. We can’t “boil the ocean”.
That’s where priorities, interests, passions, and the like come into play. Our actions very much show what our priorities and our interests are. The amount of effort we put into the things we do shows our passions.
Think about that. Look at yourself objectively. As if from someone else’s eyes. What would someone who doesn’t know you, but is observing you, think are your passions?
Summary
Emphasizes that while hearing is good, understanding is better, and taking action is most important. Knowledge becomes truly useful when acted upon.
Example of Understanding: An example is provided with an image request for Bing Chat Image Creator, illustrating a person in three stages: thinking, understanding an idea, and acting on it.
Priorities and Passions: Discusses how our actions reflect our priorities and passions, and how these can be observed objectively by others.
Passion for God: Highlights the importance of passion in our relationship with God, suggesting that God desires our wholehearted commitment and passionate action.
Encourages readers to reflect on the metaphor of hearing, understanding, and acting to convey the significance of not just acquiring knowledge but also applying it meaningfully, especially in the context of Christian faith and spirituality.
Passion is everything!
How can it cost me nothing but ask me for everything?
“After some silence, Joshua asked, “How can it cost me nothing but ask me for everything?”
Actually – “it” is better than it sounds. It’s more like something that will cost nothing, ask for everything, and yet we still end up with not only more than we ever had – but more than we could ever imagine.
Yes, passion is everything. In more ways than one.
Things we’re passionate about are the things we want to put all our energy into.
And passion is what Jesus wants from us.
He wants all of us.
Our heart. Mind. Strength. Soul. Everything.
Anything less means that something or someone is more important to us than God.
Regardless of what we try to tell other people, or even ourselves, actions do speak louder than words.
And passionate action speaks very loudly.
Ears to hear
So with that as background, let’s get into hearing. How many times do we read something along the lines of:
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.
or
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
There’s something about hearing. We may or may not hear something God’s trying to tell us. But even if we do hear, we may not understand.
What is it that makes the difference, in both cases? Why do some people here but others don’t? And then, even for those who hear, why do some understand while others don’t?
Christians often talk about a personal relationship with Jesus. Sometimes it feels like we have this idea that God didn’t even want to talk to His people in the Old Testament. But that doesn’t really make sense.
Adam and Eve had ears
Of course, Adam and Eve had ears. Duh. But remember, while they did hear God, sometimes they understood and sometimes they didn’t.
Early on, we only read about God and Adam. After all, much happened before Eve was created. One example is:
Adam and Eve
…
Ge 2:19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
…
That was a conversation. A two-way conversation. With understanding. Although, in this case, there was no deeper meaning to the conversation.
That deeper meaning came up in an earlier conversation in the same passage as the verses above.
…
Ge 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
…
Here’s the thing about this conversation. We read “when you eat of it you will surely die.”
The Problem of Free Will
And Jehovah God layeth a charge on the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden eating thou dost eat; and of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou dost not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it—dying thou dost die.’
However, in Hebrew, the word we read as “die” is repeated. God said it twice. That’s a deeper meaning. Did Adam understand it? Who knows. But looking at it today, if we know it’s there, it gives all the appearance of the two deaths we know of as Christians. Physical death and spiritual death.
In Eden, Adam wouldn’t experience either one. After the fall, Adam and Eve experienced spiritual death as they ate the fruit from the tree Adam was warned about. Physical death came later.
My write-up on “die die” is currently embedded (buried) in “one segment of “The problem of free will”. That made sense at the time. It doesn’t anymore. I should’ve made it something separate. I’ve made a note to do just that. The adjacent inset box will be updated, but for now, to find out more about “die die”, please scroll down a bit in the linked article to find out more about it.
What was God’s plan for us to hear Him?
Earlier I mentioned it feels like Christians think a relationship with God is something new. Just for us. But Adam and Eve had one. True, it was complete before the fall. And incredibly incomplete after the fall.
And yet, God still wanted to talk with His people. It’s really us who don’t want to talk with God. Or if we do want to have that talking thing going with God, it’s either one way – us to Him, or only when we want it.
However, while researching a number of different topics related to people and God having conversations, I found The Shema.
What is The Shema?
It is The Daily Declaration of Faith (from chabad.org)
Shema Yisrael (שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל) (“Hear, O Israel”) are the first two words of a section of the Torah that is the centerpiece of the morning and evening prayer services, encapsulating the monotheistic essence of Judaism:
“Hear, O Israel: G‑d is our L‑rd, G‑d is one.”
In its entirety, the Shema consists of three paragraphs: Deuteronomy 6:4–9, Deuteronomy 11:13–21 and Numbers 15:37–41.
Its recitation twice daily (morning and evening) is a biblical commandment. In addition, we recite it just before retiring for the night, as well as in the Kedushah service on Shabbat.
Indeed, this succinct statement has become so central to the Jewish people that it is the climax of the final Ne’ilah prayer of Yom Kippur, and is traditionally a Jew’s last words on earth. 1The Shema – The Daily Declaration of Faith – Chabad.org
Are you surprised? It’s said twice a day. The centerpiece of morning and evening prayer services. The final prayer of Yom Kippur. And often the last words of a Jewish person.
Of course, as with anything else, the degree to which Jewish people have passion for this is up to each individual.
You may be wondering, what does The Shema have to do with conversing with God, understanding God, and even more so acting on what God said. Hang in there. It’s coming.
The relationship between The Shema and Jesus’ words
Remember, Jesus was Jewish. His primary audience was Jewish. Jesus’ primary antagonists were Jewish leaders. To ignore all that is to lose the language, the culture, the knowledge and understanding Jesus’ audience had. Things they understood might mean nothing to us, because we never heard about their point of view. Without hearing and understanding the things they knew, our actions today cannot be as impactful as they could’ve been.
So what did Jesus say that brings in The Shema?
You might have guessed – He who has ears to hear, let him hear. If you did, you’re right on target.
“ ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear’ ” This is a Semitic idiom. It shows the need for careful thought and personal application (cf. Matt. 11:15; 13:9, 43; Luke 8:8; 14:35; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 13:9). This probably reflects the Hebrew prayer, the Shema (cf. Deut. 6:4), which meant “to hear so as to do.” Hearing must result in action (cf. James 2:14–26). 2Utley, R. J. D. (2000). The Gospel according to Peter: Mark and I & II Peter: Vol. Volume 2 (p. 54). Bible Lessons International.
This idea of “to hear so as to do” is so important. It runs through everything. God doesn’t want a bunch of people listening to Him and not trying to understand Him. God wants people who love Him. Who have time for Him. Want to understand Him. And between the love, the faith, the understanding, the passion, the desire to be transformed into the image of Christ like we were meant to be, action follows.
What’s in The Shema about hearing, understanding, and action?
Love the LORD Your God
Are we supposed to Believe God, Believe in God or Follow God?
Are we supposed to Believe God, Believe in God or Follow God? Are those three sets of words all different? Or do they all mean the same thing? Well, it depends. When were you born? What culture do you live in / come from? Most important, are you willing to learn what they meant when they were said? In some cases, that’s almost two thousand years ago. In others, several thousand years ago. We need to look at what they meant when they were said, in order to understand what they mean today.
Love the LORD your God.
That kind of sounds like believe in Jesus, ala John 3:16.
Believe and be saved.
That’s all there is to it.
Except that’s not all there is to it.
We know that, if we read the entire passage and take it in the full context of everything Jesus said.
And if we understand what Jesus said.
And if we have enough passion for Jesus that we take the time to act on His words.
Check out the inset box to find out more about that.
For those that don’t read things like Deuteronomy, we’re going to took at a passage the NIV titled Love The LORD Your God. As we saw, The Shema uses verses 4-9. I have the whole passage below, to show some of the context the Jewish people already knew and were familiar with.
Love the LORD Your God
Dt 6:1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
The verses immediately after this are the beginning of the Shema. But we need to hear/read the surrounding verses to know and understand what the prayer is about. Context matters.
The situation was extreme. The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt by Pharaoh for hundreds of years. After they were rescued by God, via Moses and Aaron, they wandered in the desert for another forty years, to prepare them for what happened next.
The verses above were the introduction to the segue between what happened and what was about to happen.
Notice: the commands were from God. They should be repeated through the generations. And the commands should be obeyed. The result, if the commands were followed, was long life, in a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was a good life as well.
And then, at the end of the passage, there’s a repetition. Something to pay special attention to.
3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
Hear and obey.
In other words: Hearing is good. Understanding is better. Action is needed!
If we don’t hear God’s commands, nothing can follow from Him giving them. If we don’t understand God’s commands, not much can follow. We won’t be able to pass them on to someone else, at least not as given. And since we don’t really understand them, we can’t really obey them either. So whatever action we may perform, it will be somewhere between correct and totally wrong. Therefore, while action is needed, correct action born out of good listening and good understanding can lead to the best actions.
The Shema – Part 1
Now, here are the initial verses that are past the first passage from Deuteronomy that’s part of the Shema.
Dt 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Let’s go through them to gain some understanding and to see what actions should follow.
Hear
Dt 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
As already implied, the word we read as “hear” has a deep meaning. In the text below, the part that’s italicized and underlined corresponds to the form of the Hebrew word in Deut 6.4.
8085 שָׁמַע, שֶׁמַע [shamaʿ /shaw·mah/] v n m. A primitive root; TWOT 2412, 2412a; GK 9048 and 9049; 1159 occurrences; AV translates as “hear” 785 times, “hearken” 196 times, “obey” 81 times, “publish” 17 times, “understand” nine times, “obedient” eight times, “diligently” eight times, “shew” six times, “sound” three times, “declare” three times, “discern” twice, “noise” twice, “perceive” twice, “tell” twice, “reported” twice, and translated miscellaneously 33 times. 1 to hear, listen to, obey. 1A (Qal). 1A1 to hear (perceive by ear). 1A2 to hear of or concerning. 1A3 to hear (have power to hear). 1A4 to hear with attention or interest, listen to. 1A5 to understand (language). 1A6 to hear (of judicial cases). 1A7 to listen, give heed. 1A7A to consent, agree. 1A7B to grant request. 1A8 to listen to, yield to. 1A9 to obey, be obedient. 1B (Niphal). 1B1 to be heard (of voice or sound). 1B2 to be heard of. 1B3 to be regarded, be obeyed. 1C (Piel) to cause to hear, call to hear, summon. 1D (Hiphil). 1D1 to cause to hear, tell, proclaim, utter a sound. 1D2 to sound aloud (musical term). 1D3 to make proclamation, summon. 1D4 to cause to be heard. 2 sound. 3Strong, J. (1995). In Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
Notice how it follows our topic title today: Hearing is good. Understanding is better. Action is needed! Hear. Hear with attention or interest. Understand. Give heed/pay attention to. Agree. Yield to. Obey.
Therefore, as we read the remainder of the verses that make up the Shema, we must be cognizant of the full meaning of the word.
Our God is One
Dt 6:4 …The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
The God of the Bible is One God. He isn’t a multitude of gods. That was important back then, since it was a time when people either had no god or a bunch of gods.
But then, things haven’t changed all that much, have they? We have different “gods” today, and we don’t call them gods per se, but we do have money, sports, jobs, and so many other things that even Christians and Jews put ahead of God. They are de facto gods, no matter what we call them.
If we truly listened, understood, and followed up with an action like obeying, this wouldn’t be so prevalent. The fact that it is means there’s a disconnect at some point(s) along that spectrum from hearing to action.
God’s commands on our hearts
6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
There is a place in our hearts for God’s commandments. At least, we started with one. What we do with it, I guess that depends on us. Maybe you remember something Qoheleth/The teacher (Solomon) wrote in Ecclesiastes. There was a secular song written from part of the passage this comes from. Maybe you remember that?
A Time for Everything
Ecc 3:1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
Ecc 3:2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
Ecc 3:3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
Ecc 3:4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
Ecc 3:5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
Ecc 3:6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
Ecc 3:7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
Ecc 3:8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecc 3:9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Did you see it? It’s in verse 11. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.
It may not mean what you think though. We must remember the context of Ecclesiastes. Much of it is rather sarcastic. It looks at the life we live in this fallen world. Under the sun.
First. here’s a Jewish view of what the Hebrew word we read as eternity means.
11b. God made humans desire eternity or made us imagine that we will live forever (Ibn Ezra). Nowhere else, however, does ha-ʿolam (“world, aeon, forever”) mean “eternity.” Others understand ha-ʿolam to mean “the world” and take the sentence to mean that God implanted in humans a desire to possess or understand the world. (In a note, NJPS explains this to mean that God “preoccupies man with the attempt to discover the times of future events”; cf. 8:17.) Rashbam says that what God put in minds is time—that we would know that there are good times and bad times, because if all times were of only one sort, we would not see the need to repent. But these supplements are not supported by the text. In any case, desire is irrelevant to this context. 4Fox, M. V. (2004). Ecclesiastes (p. 23). Jewish Publication Society.
Is eternity forever or just for a long time?
Is eternity forever or just for a long time? Isn’t eternity forever? Always? Forever going back in time and forever going forward in time? Well, that depends.
What is eternity to you?
This may be a bit surprising for Christians. I mean the part about ‘Nowhere else, however, does ha-ʿolam (“world, aeon, forever”) mean “eternity.”’
It was quite surprising to me. Now I have to go back and check some stuff where I’ve used this before. Have to see why there’s an apparent difference between the Jewish and Christian views of this word.
OK – “eternity” is done, at least my writeup is. For some of us, eternity will never be done. For others, it will be. And for some, who’ve already passed on from this life, eternity as they see it may have already ended.
Understand
Hearing is good. Everyone who’s read or heard this passage in Ecclesiastes has “heard” it in their mind. In this sense, of course, “hearing” is hearing our thoughts as we read the words.
Understanding is better. The catch with this passage, as with any ever, is that even if we hear the same words, we don’t all draw the same conclusions from them. That’s how we got all those different translations.
If the translator doesn’t believe in resurrection, eternal life after this one, and everything else that goes with it, then eternal is very likely not forever. If the translator doesn’t believe in an eternal God, then eternity almost certainly isn’t forever.
On the other hand, if the translator does believe in an eternal God, resurrection to an eternal life, and so on, then eternity must mean forever. Anything else makes no sense.
However, those are the “extreme” positions. Not extreme in that they’re outrageous. Rather, extreme in the sense that they are the two opposite ends of a spectrum. In between, there are, pardon the pun, an infinite number of possibilities. They end up giving translations that are difficult to interpret without knowing the mind of the translator.
Just one example is someone who does believe in eternity, say in the sense that there was a big bang to give us the universe we have today. And there were other big bangs going back forever. It’s a cycle of life. And there will be a continuing series of big bangs going into the future. The cycle of life continues. There’s a big bang. A universe results. There’s a contraction back to the state of things when the previous big bang occurred. And the cycle repeats with another big bang. And this goes on forever.
That is an eternal sequence. However, is there an eternal God in any way either observing or participating in this process? Only the person who came up with the concept can tell us what they thought. Is there eternal life after this life? How could there be? There can’t be, unless something else is introduced into the model, allowing for an eternal life to continue outside of the ongoing big bang – contraction – big bang cycle. But that wasn’t included in what I just wrote.
What does this all mean? It means we need to try to understand the context and the implications of what we read, whether it be the Bible or something we read about the Bible. Then, we need to see how that fits in with what w believe. If it doesn’t, what do we do? Do we change our beliefs? Do we just accept what someone else said? Do we merge the two together?
And ultimately, in the process of all that analysis, we have to be honest enough with ourselves to also consider whether we’ve actually abandoned what we believe in. There’s a huge difference between three options that we have when we examine whether what we read from a non-Bible source fits in with the Bible as we understand it.
Did God really create everything in six 24-hour days?
Did God really create everything in six 24-hour days? Put another way, Is it seven days of creation or seven creation days? Is that wordplay? Or is there really a difference between days of creation and seven creation days? The two are not at all the same. And they make a huge difference in whether or not the so-called seven days of creation is a stumbling block to believing in God and the Bible.
- Modify our beliefs about the Bible and about God to match what we read. This could happen because of something scientific. Or an author we happen to like, or lots of other things.
- Ignore what we read, because it must be wrong if it doesn’t fit our view of the Bible.
- Merge the two together.
The first two are problematic.
The third one may or may not be. The key is to be sure to merge them together in a way that doesn’t change the overall message of the Bible and is still true to what God seems to want us to know.
The question of whether or not creation was completed in six 24-hour periods of time is just one of those issues. And I can’t help but feel that looking at a Jewish concept, just as we did above with “eternity”, can really help alleviate those issues.
Action – Do something!
There was some action in the verses actually included in The Shema.
Dt 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
But there’s more. It feels like Christians today then to memorize and focus on certain key verses. However, it appears things were different in Old Testament times. Maybe that’s because they couldn’t read, didn’t have things to read, so only heard Scripture in the Synagogue when an educated person could open up a scroll and read it. They had to remember everything.
Because of that, they would, supposedly, pretty much automatically associate the surrounding verses with the ones that we just looked at. We won’t go through it to the same level of detail. Some of the things to remember have changed for us today, even though we should know these things below. And some of it doesn’t apply anymore. However, the idea that action is required has not gone away for us under the New Covenant.
So, let’s go through them a bit. Part of it is even to see how much action resulted from just a handful of verses above. God doesn’t give us knowledge just to store it in our heads. It’s so we’ll take the time to understand it. And then act on it.
It’s all something we should actually want to do, if we truly love God.
There’s one more thing too. Remember, the Old Covenant and The Law was a whole bunch of “do this” and “don’t do that” statements. The Old Testament, from beginning to end, often feels like what a parent goes through with their children. Life is dangerous. Lots of things can hurt or kill us.
Children don’t have a lot of time to learn some of the important ones. Like don’t stick a knife into an electric socket. I did that with a screwdriver. Fortunately I was just holding the rubber handle, so I only got thrown across the room. Don’t walk into the road with a car coming. My sister did that, but fortunately for her, and my father who was supposed to be watching her, the driver was watching and stopped just in time. And that’s just two examples.
But now, the New Covenant is a bit different. Quite a bit. Here’s the “new” version of The Law.
The Greatest Commandment – Matthew
22:34-40 pp — Mk 12:28-31
Mt 22:34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Mt 22:37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
That’s a mere two “do this” statements.
Sometimes I wonder, are we really as intelligent as we think we are? Are those two “do this” statements really enough for us? They could be, if we took the time to learn what they mean. But do we?
We should be able to figure it out. Especially with the Holy Spirit. But in any case, here’s what came with Dt 6:4-9.
Action – remember
Dt 6:10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
No, God didn’t bring us to this land and He didn’t save us from slavery under the Egyptian Pharaoh. But He did send His Son, Jesus, to die for us. To pay the price for our sins.
And while Jesus summed up the Old Law in two statements, His three year ministry was full of statements, commands, explanations, and examples of how to live. Plus, there are the other books in the New Testament to expound on what Jesus said.
Oh yeah – one other thing. There’s the Old Testament. Jesus was Jewish. His audience at the time was, as far as we can tell from the Bible, also Jewish. We have the resources to learn a lot about them. Their culture. Their language. What Jesus’ words meant to them. We can extrapolate quite a bit from history to learn how to apply what those Jewish people heard 2,000 years ago on how to follow Jesus. We can, if we choose to do so, even be aided by the Holy Spirit, who they didn’t have.
So I wonder. Should we really need lots of explanation? Yes. Because we have so many other things that keep us away from doing what I just wrote.
That means we need to also take the reminder below and figure out how to incorporate them into our lives today. Yes – we have to do that! Can you even imagine Jesus trying to explain to people 2,000 years ago that a day was going to come when we’d all be carrying around instant communication devices, calendars, clocks, and so many other things we have today? And then, how would He go about giving us pointers on how to use them to remember Him? Should Jesus have precreated a bunch of TikTok videos for us today?
Action – “fear” the Lord
The problem of “Fear of the Lord”
Fear the Lord.
Revere the Lord.
What’s the difference and which is it? Would you believe neither and both?
This came up because of something I’m writing about a verse in Ecclesiastes. It’s not like this is the only place the question comes up. Nor is it the first time I’m writing about this confusing/scary statement – “fear” the Lord. It’s something that generates intense feelings – and maybe for the wrong reason(s).
Dt 6:13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.
Fear the Lord. So much baggage comes with the word fear.
It comes up a lot. And why shouldn’t it? “Don’t be afraid” or words to that effect are said so much when God, Jesus, angels interact with people that it’s almost like how they said “Hello!”
So rather than reproduce it here, I’ll just direct you to something I’ve already written about Fear the Lord.
Action – Do what is right
17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the LORD’S sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.
OK, this one’s different. And yet, very much the same.
There were conditions in the verses we just read. Do “this” and you will receive “this”. Back then, it was the Promised Land that would be given. At other times in the Old Testament days, it was other things. Long life. Children. Wealth. Health. And so on. But it was all about things in this life.
Now, it’s about something else. But it’s still “do this” and you will “receive this”.
John 3:16
Jn 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
Are we supposed to Believe God, Believe in God or Follow God?
Are we supposed to Believe God, Believe in God or Follow God? Are those three sets of words all different? Or do they all mean the same thing? Well, it depends. When were you born? What culture do you live in / come from? Most important, are you willing to learn what they meant when they were said? In some cases, that’s almost two thousand years ago. In others, several thousand years ago. We need to look at what they meant when they were said, in order to understand what they mean today.
Our problem today maybe isn’t so much remembering John 3:16.
It feels like it’s more about the understanding. Not that the Bible doesn’t explain it.
It’s just that we latch onto the verse we like, claim them, and pretty much forget about the rest of it.
It shows that if we know the words,
but don’t understand them,
then any actions that follow won’t be the right actions.
True, they may appear to be the “right” actions.
But, as Jesus pointed out in the Letter to the Chruch in Ephesus, if they aren’t done for the right reason (love in their case), then they have no value for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Action – Teach your children
So far, we look at hearing, understanding, and doing, pretty much for each person.
Dt 6:20 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?” 21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers. 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”
Now, it gets extended. Now, it’s be sure to tell your children. Back then family units were much larger, stronger, and a large part of how they lived. It’s not so much like that anymore. In that regard, the Great Commission feels like it’s even more appropriate in our time than ever.
The Great Commission
Mt 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Yes, back then, in Jesus’ time, the Gospel was spread to Gentiles. However, these days in Western Countries, large extended families don’t really go to church together all that much. For some, it’s maybe done on special occasions. But for many, if not most, it’s never.
Consider that “all the nations” meant all the people all over the world, it even fits modern families. Families get spread out across the state, around the country, and even across different countries.
So what could be done on a regular basis became very difficult, since extended families don’t get together that often. Or, in my case when there were more peolpe actually alive, never.
Of course, we could carry out the command to remember God as a family unit today. There are things like FaceTime, Zoom, and various other virtual meeting type software. But honestly, how often do we have discussions about God when there are family virtual get-togethers? Are they about God? Or are they about the kids and the grandkids?
Conclusion – Hearing is good. Understanding is better. Action is needed! The Shema Part 1
Well, I’m not sure we’re all that successful with the sequence of hearing, understanding, and carrying out actions.
We don’t really hear enough. Or read enough.
And when we do hear, how much do we take the time to understand? And especially these days, with so much junk and outright lies on social media and in the news, it’s so easy to go with our emotions rather than turn to God and pray about which of the things we read/hear are true representations of Him.
Given the issues with hearing and understanding, it’s then not surprising that too much of the action that does take place is misguided.
If we even took a little time to consider things like loving people, even our enemies, we’d see right away that too many people who claim to be Christians don’t act with love at all.
If we look at Jesus’ righteousness, and the goal to be more like Him, how can we not look at the character of a person we look to for our view of Christianity? And yet, just look at the politics in this country and around the world. There’s so much hatred. It feels a lot like what I remember studying in school about the lead-up to WW II.
Love is missing. There’s no question about it. So something’s wrong with our hearing. Therefore we don’t understand. And therefore when we do act, we act inappropriately.
We definitely need to work on that.
It reminds me of a song I was listening to yesterday. Light the Fire Again, by Brian Doerkson.
I need to add a side note here. Some people don’t like this song. Think it’s not Christian. That’s because they don’t listen to the words. Don’t understand the point of the song. And therefore don’t like it. It’s indicative of what we just read.
This song is based on the Letter to the Church in Laodicea, in Revelation.
To the Church in Laodicea
Rev 3:14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Rev 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
It’s not about the fire of the Holy Spirit being lit again. It’s a response to what Jesus said in verse 18.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Here are the lyrics, so you can see and understand why it’s a response to that verse.
Don’t let our love grow cold
I’m calling out light the fire again
Don’t let our vision die
I’m calling out light the fire again
You know my heart my deeds
I’m calling out light the fire again
I need Your discipline
I’m calling out light the fire again
I am here to buy gold refined in the fire
Naked and poor
Wretched and blind I come
Clothe me in white
So I won’t be ashamed
Lord light the fire again
Light the fire again, yes
Oh yeah
Don’t let our love grow cold
I’m calling out light the fire again
Don’t let our vision die
I’m calling out light the fire again
You know my heart my deeds
I’m calling out light the fire again
I need Your discipline
I’m calling out light the fire again
Do you see? The words are about lighting the fire again so we can buy the gold and have the white clothes that Jesus said we need.
As I mentioned, not the fire of the Holy Spirit that went out. It can’t be that, because if we put out the fire of the Holy Spirit, that’s the unforgivable Spirit. Jesus would never tell us that the unforgivable sin is somehow forgivable!
No, it’s to relight a fire, for us as individuals, so we can regain what we once had. It’s the only thing that makes sense. They were a “real” church at one time. They had a lamp in Heaven. But over time, they had issues. Not unlike the ones many have today. God’s just not that big of a deal. And so, Jesus says to buy the gold refined in the fire.
There’s one thing about the fire that may be confusing. The song says to relight it. It’s not like the “fire” Jesus talks about ever went out in Heaven. The point of relighting it is that what we once had that was refined in the fire is gone. For us, as part of the analog/metaphor/whatever you want to call it – we, as individuals – need a fire “relit” to gain back what we once had.
When we understand that, then we’ll maybe also remember something from the Old Testament that’s along the same lines, in Old Testament times.
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
Ps 139:1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
Ps 139:2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
Ps 139:3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Ps 139:4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
Ps 139:5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Ps 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Ps 139:7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
Ps 139:8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Ps 139:9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
Ps 139:10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
Ps 139:11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
Ps 139:12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Ps 139:13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Ps 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
Ps 139:15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
Ps 139:16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Ps 139:17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Ps 139:18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
Ps 139:19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
Ps 139:20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Ps 139:21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
Ps 139:22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
Ps 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Ps 139:24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
This is one of my favorite Psalms.
It also fits in nicely with our look at hear, understand, and act.
We know, because we’ve heard it, that God knows everything about us. We also know, because we’ve heard it, that as Christians, we should want to be more like Jesus,
We’ve heard that. Maybe in the verses we looked at here. Maybe in Light the Fire Again, or some other worship song. Maybe someplace else.
But, do we understand it? Do we understand it enough to know that it should/must change our lives?
If we did hear, and do understand, then doing things like buying the gold refined in the fire, have the white clothes to wear, asking God to point out where we’re going wrong, performing The Great Commission, and so much more – they’ll all be part of our lives.
How about you? Do you hear and understand” And do you act accordingly?
It’s so easy to not do it. Until we start to actually ask God to help us do it. Then it gets harder to not do it.
Hope to see you in Part 2. Will add a link here when it’s published, or you can subscribe to this site to get an email when new stuff is available.
Image by Bing / Chat GPT / DALL-E 3
Footnotes
- 1
- 2Utley, R. J. D. (2000). The Gospel according to Peter: Mark and I & II Peter: Vol. Volume 2 (p. 54). Bible Lessons International.
- 3Strong, J. (1995). In Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
- 4Fox, M. V. (2004). Ecclesiastes (p. 23). Jewish Publication Society.