The wise man is always learning. The best leaders are continuously seeking growth.
We spend so much of our time trying to justify who we already are. And sometimes our stubbornness gets in the way of who we might become.
How do we learn? How do we grow?
We do so by listening to others. By opening our hearts and minds to the ideas, stories, and experiences of those around us. The Bible talks a lot about the power of listening.
It takes true humility to hear others for what they are worth. It takes curiosity and a real sense of value in the person across from you. We are made for community. We grow through hearing what the people around us have to say, then discerning what to absorb and what to deflect.
Listening to others is the precursor to listening to God. There is a convicting passage in 1 John that challenges, “if they cannot love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen, how can they love God, whom they have not seen?”
Listening to others is the gateway to hearing God’s voice. It takes an added measure of humility, curiosity, and value to internalize what God is saying and let it transform our attitudes and behavior.
Everyone in the modern world is fighting to be heard, but few are fighting to hear. Listening is an exercise in humility. It opens avenues for learning. And it allows us to participate in things bigger than ourselves. This four-part series explores what The Bible has to say about listening and how fighting to hear might be the very thing we need to transform our lives. This is the final in a series of four.