Tune Your Ears
Have you ever thought about why your ears are designed the way they are? With all those folds, and flaps of skin…the lines and curves?
Those are called “pinna” by the way. Well, it turns out that pinna are designed to help us determine WHERE sound is coming from. Dogs don’t have this ability though, that is why they will tilt their heads to the side when they hear something, they’re trying to locate where a sound is coming from. But human ears have been engineered in such a way that with all those shapes and curves, we can not only hear very well, but we can hear directionally where a sound is coming from. Well, a fun experiment, which we tested out in Student Ministries a few years back, was to blindfold someone, and stuff the “pinna” of their ears with playdough. Once you have done that, you can move around them and make a noise, asking them to point to where the noise is coming from, and they won’t be able to, they will point to the wrong place.
I recently put out a survey to our Students, asking for a little insight into how they are doing spiritually amidst the pandemic. One of the responses I got reminded me of the pinna in our ears. Their response was this (and for the record, it was an anonymous survey, I have no idea who this belongs to):
I am going online more, and Instagram is heavily anti-Christian in the posts I see; this causes me to have more questions.
If you’ve spent any time on social media, you know how true this statement is. It would seem that everyone and their brother, has a snarky argument about faith, religion, or Jesus. And often times those arguments are baseless, and lacking an understanding of the Christian faith. But, if that is all that someone is consuming, it would most certainly cause trouble in their spiritual life. If all we consume is content like this, then we’re - to borrow from my image above - stuffing our ears with playdough.
God’s call is often not a booming voice. Although, maybe it was for some of you. His call is usually quieter. So, if our ears aren’t tuned to hear from God, we’re going to miss his call, miss his direction, miss his voice, and we’ll start looking for him in the wrong directions, in the wrong places. And while it is healthy for us to understand the arguments of the people around us, we must also be careful to listen to truth as we do so.
God speaks to us through his word, through wise people in our lives, through our prayers when we spend time with Him. If we spend time in those things, then we are tuning our ears to his voice. But, if you find yourself succumbing to doubt, where you are questioning your belief in God, then maybe it’s time to put down the phone, and pick up the Bible and invest in your relationship with Him.
He’s calling out to you, are your ears tuned to listen to Him?
Mike Sanders
mike@calvaryburlington.ca
Those are called “pinna” by the way. Well, it turns out that pinna are designed to help us determine WHERE sound is coming from. Dogs don’t have this ability though, that is why they will tilt their heads to the side when they hear something, they’re trying to locate where a sound is coming from. But human ears have been engineered in such a way that with all those shapes and curves, we can not only hear very well, but we can hear directionally where a sound is coming from. Well, a fun experiment, which we tested out in Student Ministries a few years back, was to blindfold someone, and stuff the “pinna” of their ears with playdough. Once you have done that, you can move around them and make a noise, asking them to point to where the noise is coming from, and they won’t be able to, they will point to the wrong place.
I recently put out a survey to our Students, asking for a little insight into how they are doing spiritually amidst the pandemic. One of the responses I got reminded me of the pinna in our ears. Their response was this (and for the record, it was an anonymous survey, I have no idea who this belongs to):
I am going online more, and Instagram is heavily anti-Christian in the posts I see; this causes me to have more questions.
If you’ve spent any time on social media, you know how true this statement is. It would seem that everyone and their brother, has a snarky argument about faith, religion, or Jesus. And often times those arguments are baseless, and lacking an understanding of the Christian faith. But, if that is all that someone is consuming, it would most certainly cause trouble in their spiritual life. If all we consume is content like this, then we’re - to borrow from my image above - stuffing our ears with playdough.
God’s call is often not a booming voice. Although, maybe it was for some of you. His call is usually quieter. So, if our ears aren’t tuned to hear from God, we’re going to miss his call, miss his direction, miss his voice, and we’ll start looking for him in the wrong directions, in the wrong places. And while it is healthy for us to understand the arguments of the people around us, we must also be careful to listen to truth as we do so.
God speaks to us through his word, through wise people in our lives, through our prayers when we spend time with Him. If we spend time in those things, then we are tuning our ears to his voice. But, if you find yourself succumbing to doubt, where you are questioning your belief in God, then maybe it’s time to put down the phone, and pick up the Bible and invest in your relationship with Him.
He’s calling out to you, are your ears tuned to listen to Him?
Mike Sanders
mike@calvaryburlington.ca
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