Hearing Books
Everything known about the universe is in a book somewhere. And almost all books can be made to appear on the screen in your hand in an instant. These days, we can even ask questions of these books, and Artificial Intelligence will furnish a sometimes intelligent answer.
You can pack knowledge into your brain. This, from studying, learning from others, solving problems, and asking questions. The acquisition of knowledge requires perseverance and costs us time.
Wisdom comes from the application of knowledge to life. This is called experience, and it also costs us time.
We “make” our children go to school. They are not wise enough to do it on their own, until they are, which takes time as well.
Your bank account of time does not grow over time. In my case, however, I received a recent deposit via a medical miracle. Our time left is God’s investment.
A lifelong pursuit of knowledge, enabling us to utilize creation to meet our needs, is one way to enjoy a reasonably comfortable life. This comfortable life we seek is secondary to God’s will for us. God prioritizes other things, such as awe, respect, praise, sacrifice, obedience, repentance, love, seeking Him, and above all, belief. This is good news, especially when, despite our best efforts, our life experiences often fall a bit short of comfortable.
God wants our hearts. God does not always get what He wants. God always gets the free will He gave us.
The Bible teaches that faith comes by hearing.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Rom 10:17 ESV)
Faith is not knowledge. Faith is not wisdom. Faith is not something to learn in the usual sense. Faith comes to us as a gift. It comes from the hearing of the word of God.
The word of God is in a book, the most printed of all books, the Bible. The prerequisite to hearing is that we have ears to hear, which is to believe, and to embrace the truth of the Gospel.
Ears that resonate with God’s word come from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our gift from Jesus when we choose to believe.
The Holy Spirit is already at work in the minds of unbelievers before they believe. Perhaps they look around at creation and their own life experiences, and suspect that there is a God. A germ of belief, or at least a doubt in their unbelief. This is a foothold for the Holy Spirit.
God wants us to choose to believe in Him. Out of love, He created us to love Him. Since the fall in Eden, He has been working to restore our relationship with Him that He originally intended. This process of restoration begins when we turn from sin and accept Jesus’ gift of salvation. A choice.
A choice that is the beginning of a transformation where truth from God’s word and through the Holy Spirit will, over time, fill in the gaps and solidify the porous pile of knowledge you have been storing in your brain all these years. Rock solid faith.
Faith is a quantity. God’s desire is for it to increase. Increasing through the hearing of His word in all of our experiences, both blessings and sufferings. Listen for His whispered shout always.
You have ears to hear!
Don’t be surprised when God puts you to work in His re-creation project. He will do this when the needle on your faith tank moves just a little up from empty. Faith is a unique fuel in that when you use it, it multiplies.
Written by David J. Pontzer, while making sense of a rather long time spent being alive.
