The Grace of Listening

 

God tells us in 1Peter 3:8(NLT), “Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.” Jesus Christ is our example, because he always did the Will of our Heavenly Father. He walked in the Father’s love every moment of each day, and the heart of God is that all His children behave exactly the same way. God commands us to have the mind of Christ, and this doesn’t mean that He wants us to be mind-readers. Through Christ, God has revealed the brilliance of our design. Christ is our blueprint, and God wants us to think only of those things that bring us closer to Him.

To be of one mind as it says in 1Peter 3:8 is to keep our thoughts pure. As God’s children, Heavenly Father wants us to have wonderful relationships and to love each other with a Christ-kind of love. He tells us in Colossians 3:12(NLT), “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” These are qualities that come from God. They are part of His nature, and because of what He accomplished through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s nature is now our nature! We are a byproduct of His love, and He tells us to wear His love like a second skin.

Our Heavenly Father knows that life can be extremely challenging. He knows that we’re not going to feel like skipping through a field of daisies every day. In fact, there will be days when some of us don’t even feel like getting out of bed; we feel exhausted in every way. Our energy is low, and this is exactly what the enemy wants. Jesus Christ warns us in John 10:10 that the enemy is in the earth to kill, steal, and destroy. So, we can never lose sight of the reality that we have a spiritual enemy, the devil, and that he’s trying to destroy our minds and steal our joy.

We have problems in life, and the devil can use them to make us feel and act defeated, but Jesus Christ tells us in this same verse in John 10:10 that he came to the earth to give a more than abundant life. We must trust this with all our hearts. God has given us such tremendous words of encouragement in His Word, but not only this, He has given us power through the Spirit of Christ that indwells us. We are well equipped for victory in Jesus Christ, and God wants us to know that if we keep the faith, we will never be defeated.

When a person is going through a difficult or challenging season in their lives, not only do they need encouragement, but they need compassion, gentleness, and kindness. As followers of Christ, many of us separate ourselves from his ministry. We think that the work of ministering and blessing others is delegated to only a few, when the truth is that we all have a responsibility in Christ to share his gospel, and to encourage and uplift others through kindness and compassion.  

Without judgment
One of the important ways that we can do this is by simply listening. To listen without judgment is a grace, and we should be willing to offer it freely. Jesus Christ teaches us in Luke 6:37(NLT), “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.” God created all of us to be unique, and we walk the path He’s laid before us at different paces. Some of us make an awful lot of mistakes, and our lives can become so entangled that we can’t tell which way is up or down. You might know someone for whom life seems to be a mess of their own making. The truth is that we all have things in our pasts that we aren’t proud of. Being understanding and having a compassionate ear can be a tremendous help. It can make all the difference to someone that is hurting.

Pray first
When a person has been hurt or wounded emotionally, our inclination may be to offer advice or to dole out what we might consider to be good remedies. The best practice is to pray for the person. Even while listening to them, we can pray a silent and short prayer, asking Heavenly Father to help them. Rather than telling them what we would do, sometimes it is best to wait until God has released us to offer this type of counsel, and to only do it after we have heard from Him regarding what we should say.

Demonstrate compassion
God tells us in 1Peter 2:2-3(NLT), “Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.” Sometimes we forget that no matter our age, we are all just children. We are God’s children, and in 1Peter 2:2-3, He is telling us that we need the spiritual milk of His Word to grow strong in Christ. He commands us to cry out for this milk, to crave it, because craving it is a response that demonstrates we understand the treasure of His matchless Word and what it will do for our lives.

There are more people that do not crave God’s spiritual milk than those that do. Some have never heard encouragement from the scriptures, and they don’t know God’s promises. We should be mindful of this. People will come to us at the oddest time and even the most unsuspecting locations. They may not realize it, but they are drawn to us because the compassion of Christ is in our hearts.

We have tasted the Lord’s kindness, and we have the awesome opportunity to share it! Some individuals will want to connect with us because they sense we’ll provide a safe space for them. Something is on their hearts and they want to get it out. It’s part of our ministry as ambassadors for Jesus Christ to demonstrate compassion, and to validate their feelings with understanding. We are equipped by God through Jesus Christ to be compassionate listeners. We should always be poised for this, and when we can, let others know that God wants them to be happy, and that we will be praying for them as well. ■

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

“The Grace of Listening”, written for Christian Encouragement and Inspiration© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.