Remember when you lived at home with your parents? Go back to that time in your mind right now. I want you to remember when your mom or dad would be trying to tell you something important, and instead of listening to their wisdom, the child version of you rolled your eyes, interrupted them and said, “Bla bla bla, yea I knooowwww.” Are you picturing it? I’d be surprised if we all didn’t do this at least once in our lives.
If you’re an adult now with children, you know how hurtful it was/is to hear your child say that to you. OR if you’ve yet to experience a child disrespect you this way, and you haven’t learned how horrible this action is, I want to let you in on a little secret. Come closer and pay attention to what I’m about to say: when you don’t listen to something your parents want to tell you, it’s not just disrespectful and hurtful, you’re also screwing up your own life by missing out on some wisdom. Seriously. Our parents have been through everything before us, and when they’re giving us advice, we would be wise to listen to them, no matter how many times we’ve previously heard it, or something like it.
Have you ever skimmed over a bible verse because it was familiar? That’s the same thing as going, “bla bla bla” to your Father. Let me be more clear–when you skim over the words written FOR YOU by the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, you are telling the one WHO MADE YOU, “blahblahblah, I know this already.” Ouch. Since we’re all God’s children, and you haven’t learned how horrible this action is to God, I want to let you in on a little secret. Come closer and pay attention to what I’m about to say: when you don’t listen to something your Father in heaven wants to tell you, it’s not just disrespectful and hurtful, you’re also screwing up your own life by missing out on some wisdom. Seriously. Jesus has been through everything before us, and when the Bible gives us advice, we would be wise to listen to it, no matter how many times we’ve previously heard/read it.
I don’t know about you, but I know that I need to apologize to God for being a selfish brat and not always giving His word the time and attention it deserves. I challenge you to go back and reread some of the most familiar Bible verses and look for something new God wants to teach you through them. Keep each other accountable, brothers and sisters! If you catch someone say, “I know we’ve all read this a hundred times” or “You probably already know this by heart,” ask them to read it anyway and remind them that we are not called to skip over stuff we think we know. We are humans with finite minds; there is NO WAY you know everything you need to know about that verse you think you know. I promise there’s always more.
