BE CAREFUL TO LISTEN
January 11, 2019
Prayer: Dear God, we want to listen carefully to You. Our heart is to be accurate with Your most precious Word. We love You. Amen.
Scripture: Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God. Deuteronomy 12:28 NAS
My son, Chandler, volunteered to do the sixth grade promotion media for the past few years at his elementary alma mater. Each year it gets a little more complex for a couple of reasons. First of all, Chandler likes to learn and do new things with technology, so each year he wants to do something a little more “wow” than the year before. The second reason it gets tougher is that we have to find songs to play with the pictures that are appropriate. Songs that the students will like and relate to, that have no blatant Christian lyrics, and that do not sing about sex, alcohol, drugs, etc.
With the release of the movie, Shrek the Third, Chandler and the supervising teacher picked a Shrek theme for the show. Chandler animated the principal and three sixth grade teachers and recorded their voices for part of the show. Together, the five of them picked out fun songs from earlier Shrek soundtracks that they thought would be fun to include in the program.
Chandler worked day and night to perfect the show. Just days before the show he called me into his room to watch the video. He was concerned with one of the song choices they had made after carefully listening to it several times. He said that he had not ever really listened to what the song was about until now but thought we should go talk to the Principal and teachers before finalizing the video.
When we went to the Principal and told him the lyrics in question, he was shocked. He said, “I guess I have never listened carefully to the words, I always just liked the beat.” The supervising teacher had the same response. Here was this very popular song, listened to by millions of children who probably sang along, on a “kid’s “movie soundtrack, and it was completely inappropriate. The Principal was very appreciative that we caught this before we played it at the promotion event. We all walked away shaking our heads, wondering how we could have “listened” to that song so many times without REALLY listening to the words.
Today’s lesson is twofold. First, it is so important to read and be careful to listen to God’s Word. So many times people change and twist the Bible to say something that changes the message to the way they want. If you are not careful, you may not realize the change has even been made. Can you think of an example that you have experienced? God’s Word is not for us to tweak or twist. We are to be careful to listen and do what He commands.
Secondly, I am asking you to be careful to listen to your student’s conversations, sayings, music, and other influences. What kind of language are they using? What are they talking about? What are they being encouraged to do and value? How easy is it to miss these conversations in our busyness? Pray for your students and against all of the evil influences that are infiltrating their ears, eyes and minds.
My prayer for you is that you would be careful to listen.
Copyright Kathy Branzell. Email [email protected]
Thank you for today’s devotion. It home for me and was convicting and encouraging.