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 traqair@PROTECTED
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA