Church Devotions: White Noise - Matthew 13:9

Matthew 13:9  “He who has ears, let him hear.”

Have you ever heard of the term “white noise?” It’s used by broadcasters to blank out unwanted sounds on radio, television, and satellite programs. On its own, it sounds like a lot of static, but when it’s applied to a recording, the white noise gets rid of irritating sounds and unwanted frequencies.

We use “white noise” when we want to block out other sounds too. If workers are drilling in the street outside our homes or offices, we may increase the volume of our televisions or radios to cancel out the drilling noise. Or if we’re in a building where we can hear people talking in the next room, we might put a fan on to cancel out the sound of their voices. That would be white noise too.

There’s a lot of white noise in the world and in people’s hearts and spirits. The white noise that we’ve created with our lives has cancelled out Christ’s Voice. We make important choices without even consulting Him. We worship without even focusing on Him. We express our faith without even reading, knowing, or applying His Words. We’ve cancelled out Christ with all of the distractions in our lives. He still speaks His challenging words to us, but we’re either not hearing Him at all or we’ve distorted His words to suit our own ideas, opinions, and culture.

We’re afraid to listen to Christ’s Truth because He will radically change our ideas.

We’re afraid to follow His Way because we want to keep things going our way.

We’re reluctant to accept His Life because our lives will no longer be our own.

So instead of listening to Christ or hearing the Gospel, we create white noise to block out His irritating words and uncompromising demands. We want Jesus to be meek and mild – meek enough to mold Him our way and mild enough not to meddle in our lives.

The challenge that we face today and everyday is this: how can we block out the world’s white noise and really listen to Jesus?

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, we have failed to follow You completely. We are guilty of setting You aside and blocking You from tampering in our lives and changing our ways. We want You to go along with us and listen to everything we have to say. We forget that You are the Lord and we are only Your servants. Help us to refocus our hearts and minds so that we will actually listen to You. In Your Holy Name, we urgently pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is one of John’s latest 2011 Nativity drawings called
“Light of the World.” It features a silhouetted Joseph and Mary walking in the outskirts of Bethlehem beneath the Natal Star. If you would like to view a larger version, please click on the following link: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6469850593_46b13aa547_b.jpg

Devotions for meetings: Go away, Jesus! - Matthew 8:34

Today’s Bible readings are Isaiah 22:1-8 and Matthew 8:24-34

Matthew 8:34  Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

 

They were absolutely terrified of Jesus. He cast out demons and caused a stampede. He proved that He had the power of God within Him, as well as the divine authority that went with it, but instead of worshipping, glorifying, and welcoming Him into their community, the Gadarene people urged Him to leave their shores.

You would think that because Jesus was able to perform miracles and cure serious sicknesses, He would have been welcomed with open arms and publicly celebrated. Instead, the people hurried to find Him in order to tell Him to go away. They didn’t want the challenges and changes He would have brought to their community. They just wanted to be left in peace to resume their way of life.

That’s not an uncommon response to the Living Gospel of Christ. Even today, there are millions of people in our society who refuse to accept Jesus as the Lord of their Lives and King of their hearts. They like what Jesus taught about love, but they refuse to submit themselves to His authority. They do not want to give their hearts to Christ because they would have to surrender their choices, their ways, and their goals.

Christ can come into our lives and make things more meaningful, granting us a real purpose for the short time we each have on Earth. But Jesus can do nothing for us unless we are willing to welcome Him into our hearts and homes, our communities and churches. The Gospel is a life-changing message which turns our worlds upside down and our values inside out. We do not change Jesus to suit our needs; instead He changes us to bring glory to God through doing His will.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, our lives should belong to God, but sometimes we have trouble in letting go of ourselves in order to allow You to change us completely. We are sometimes scared to surrender our spirits to Your ways and are too timid to apply our lives according to Your truth. Help us to get over our fears about faith, so that we may fully surrender our hearts and minds, bodies and souls to You alone. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message or ask a question, please send John an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is John’s latest Christmas Nativity drawings. It’s called “Small Town Miracle.” If you would like to view a larger version of the drawing, please click on the following link: http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6117/6331033884_bd20084c00_b.jpg