★ Turning A Deaf Ear!

I spoke to you, ...But you did not hear. Come to ME, hear, and your soul shall live. - Jeremiah 7:13; Isaiah 55:3

The bicycle of my fifteen-year-old son was standing in the garden in the rain. I called his attention to it and told him to put it away. He turned a deaf ear. When I came home that evening, I noticed that the bicycle was still there.

At work I spoke to one of my colleagues to show him precisely what was necessary to get a certain order done urgently. He seemed to agree.  ...The next day I ascertained that he had not worked on the order at all.

Are such attitudes out of order? Definitely, for I have a position of authority over those two persons. Do I despise my son or my colleague by giving them an order? Not at all, I am acting consistently with my position of responsibility. Am I infringing on their liberty? In one sense, yes, however, it was done within the bounds of our known and accepted relationship. No institution or undertaking can function without the appropriate authority. A child cannot grow up properly without a benevolent and just authority.

GOD, who is sovereign, has given valuable moral instruction to all human beings for our own good. HE is the CREATOR, we are HIS creatures. We have the responsibility to listen to what GOD demands. If HE speaks with authority, HE also speaks lovingly. Today, HE still gives one simple, clear order: "WE MUST REPENT AND COME TO HIM". How shall we respond? Are we going to turn a deaf ear, as though GOD has never spoken?