The Difference in Hearing and Listening

     I enjoy listening to Contemporary Christian music when I'm working out, driving down the road, cooking, or pretty much any other time. It would be easy for me to say this genre of music has become one of my favorite modes of worship each day. What I do have to be careful about is not allowing myself to just hear the music, but instead I want to make sure I am listening to the music and the messages that can be received through that mode of sharing God's Word to my heart and soul.
     It's easy to hear music and not really listen. Think about being in a store where background music is being played, or how about mood music that is playing softly in a restaurant with the intent of creating a warm and comforting atmosphere. In settings such as those it is easy to hear the music playing, but not give it much of our focus or attention. We hear it but we don't really listen to it. There's a big difference there. In my profession, what if the only thing that mattered was that the students heard me in front of the room, but weren't really listening. Would learning take place, doubtful, so it is crucial that we require our students to be focused in on our lesson and the message we are delivering. I feel safe to say that rule applies in pretty much any business, organization, club, or home. We don't want to spend our time talking if nobody is listening. The intent and goal of delivering a message isn't that the recipient hear us talking, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH Charlie Brown style, but rather a message is only as good as the listener listens and responds to our message.
     Take for example my regimen of playing Christian music while I work out. If I'm not careful I will find myself caught up in my workout while the music is playing, but the words and the message found in that music are lost because I didn't really listen to the song, it was just playing in the background and my mind is focused on something much less important. I can tell the difference when I enter my workout with my focus being on the words of the music I am listening to, it becomes more of a true opportunity to meet and hear from our Lord and Savior. That is when I really receive a bump in my morning ritual. This same principle holds true for all forms of worship, praise. and even prayer.
     What if we prayed and God heard our prayers, but He wasn't really listening to our requests and our concerns? What if we aren't listening to His message at church, during a lesson, in a conversation with a friend or family member,  or even in a song? We trust that God hears our prayers, that's why we pray. Shouldn't we give that same focus in our time we spend with our Father?
      Don't allow yourself to be distracted when you are reading your Bible or a devotion, that is a prime opportunity to hear God's guidance to you. Take away distractions and place a focus on your time in prayer so that you aren't just talking to God, but during that time you are listening for God's small, still voice (I Kings 19:11-13) and then focus on His message to you. In all places, during all times listen for God's voice, and then make sure you listen and respond to what you are hearing. We want God to hear our prayers in our times of need, shouldn't he expect the same from us?
Coach Carter