Devotionals from my Bible app: Hearing vs. Listening (Mark 4:9)

And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Mark 4:9, NKJV

Hearing vs. Listening

Throughout the pages of Scripture, there’s a word that gets repeated:

"hear," or a related word, "listen." In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word "Shema" translates into English as "hear" or "listen" and is often used to emphasize the act of listening, understanding, and obeying.

Today’s culture places value on doing many things at once; we often try to listen while focusing on other tasks, which divides our focus. The sound of someone’s voice might come into our ears, but if we’re also scrolling social media, doing schoolwork, or making a meal, we might not fully understand their words.

But in the biblical context, "hearing" does not simply include sound reception; it also involves active obedience and an effort to understand.

In Mark 4:9, Jesus invites us to listen—to hear and obey, encouraging us to pay careful attention to His words: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Jesus isn't just asking us to audibly hear His words and carry on with our personal agenda; He's urging us to actively listen and obey, to live by His truth. Listening and obeying are what build our faith in Jesus Christ. Hearing the Word of God should lead to a transformed life marked by fruitfulness.
As you reflect on the idea of listening in Scripture, consider your heart and spiritual receptivity. Are you attentive to God's Word, allowing it to transform your life, or is your hearing divided, causing you to resist His call?

Note after sharing the devotional: although I consider myself timid in sharing anything about my faith out loud with others, and although I still consider myself as not having been faithful enough to spread the Gospel (something that needs to change), there are times where I have attempted to spread the Gospel. I did share Jesus with a bandmember at a funeral service for another bandmember. He was nice about it, but he communicated that he had no interest in hearing about the Lord. I did preach to my dad a few times when we lived together, attempting to explain parts of Scripture that I knew grated at him. He confessed the Lord Jesus to my pastor and me when my pastor made an impromptu visit to his apartment a few years back.

I did also preach about Jesus a few times (albeit when I was unsaved) to my childhood best friend, for sure once when we were kids, but also for a brief season when we were both college age and young-adult age. Unfortunately, I never saw any fruit from our conversations (especially since half the time he tried to counter-convert me to his viewpoints, which was basically science-as-religion). We're no longer in touch these days.

Years ago, prior to meeting my ex, I did go on one date with a woman who lived in the same town I did, and God somehow gave me the boldness during the date to share some faith-related things (she was the inquisitive type, which helped). By the end of our time together, our conversation around faith had already began to bear some fruit (she said she would go back and find a Bible and read through it).

One case where I have felt God lead me to preach the Gospel is to my mom. She goes to a church, so she knows about God and about Jesus. But the type of church she goes to does not preach about the importance of giving one’s life to Jesus Christ as one’s personal Lord, King, and Savior. This is what I mean when I say that it is misleading to say that 73% of Americans are Christians, when only 28% of them believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God (and that alone does not guarantee salvation, although it definitely helps propel such a person in the right direction to receive it). So many churches ignore the true Gospel, they ignore the importance of sin and why God hates it, and they routinely put the Word of Man over the Word of God (alternately could be referred to the fear of offending man at the risk of offending God).

I’m sure there are other folks I’m not thinking of right now. For now, I will conclude my response to the prayer-time prompt: even when sharing your faith feels hard or is met with resistance, don’t give up. Every act of love is a seed planted in God’s time. Trust that He is working, even when you don’t see immediate results.

As for hearing vs. listening, I would say that doing both is important. According to the devotional, it seems that Biblical hearing involves active obedience and an effort to understand. I would also add the below verse:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, NKJV

I add the above passage because when truth is spoken in love, it makes it easier (hopefully) for the hearer to receive it and respond accordingly.

Prayer: God, open my heart to hear and readily receive from You. Free me from distractions. I don’t want to read Your Word passively, but I want it to transform my life. Help me to live in obedience and reflect Your light to others. In Jesus’s name, Amen.