How in the world did I get home with a pound of pickle loaf lunch meat and a half pound of baby Swiss cheese?! What a "delicious" combination! I know I ordered smoked turkey and Colby cheese. I know I did! I repeated my order twice to the lady behind the deli counter at Wal-Mart. Twice she repeated the order back to me. How did this snafu happen? How can a person look you in the eye, take an order, repeat it back to you twice, and still get it completely wrong? I would never order pickle loaf...I think I might be allergic....plus, it just looks gross. Maybe I'm just allergic to the way it looks. Yuck!
I'm not unique to this type of incident. Perhaps you've never had this experience at the Wal-Mart deli counter, but you've had an experience where you placed an order of some kind and the end result was totally wrong. This is why I'm still gun-shy about going through a fast food drive- thru! You know what they do to you in the drive-thru!!
I'm a former retail manager and one reason I know customers don't return for a second visit is because the first one was met with such inattentive service. We are an impatient lot; we want what we want when we want it and we want it right....the first time. Retail establishments who can't meet with that demand lose business!
When it comes to living a life that glorifies God, I'm a lot like the lady behind the deli counter at Wal-Mart. I know what God says through his Word but do I really listen to it?.... And by "listening" I'm talking about hearing with faith that results in obedience. It seems to me you can't separate faith and obedience. If you have faith it will shine through an obedient life. An obedient life that blesses God cannot be demonstrated apart from faith. It is our stubbornness, (of which I could write a book about my own), that keeps us from entering into the full life Christ said he came to give.
It's like God goes to the deli counter...gives his order... I look at him like I'm listening...I repeat his order back to him twice...and he still walks away with something from me totally different. Did he get his own order wrong? Hardly!... I just didn't listen. I fell short of his expectations. I just looked at him with that 'deer in headlights' glaze. I just went through the motions. I was inattentive to what he was really saying and as a result....I missed it...his blessing...his satisfaction...his walking away from my counter whistling a happy tune....his, "Well, done".
How many times in my life have I missed the true blessing of God because I had ears to hear, but didn't listen?! How many times have you?
"To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them." -Matt. 13:12 NLT
Very thought-provoking, Richard! The sad part is that you can go back to Wal-Mart, demand that they give you the right order, and they have to! But when God comes back to us, we most likely do the same thing all over again. How we must grieve His heart! Thanks for giving me a lot to think about.
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