_HEALTHY LISTENING_
"_Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only._"
--JAMES i. 21-27.
When we hear the word, but do not do it, there has been a defect in our
hearing. We may listen to the word for mere entertainment. Or we may
attach a virtue to the mere act of listening to the word. We may assume
that some magical efficacy belongs to the mere reading of the word. And
all this is perverse and delusive. No listening is healthy which is not
mentally referred to obedience. We are to listen _with a view to
obedience_, with our eyes upon the very road where the obedient feet will
travel. That is to say, we are to listen with purpose, as though we were
Ambassadors receiving instructions from the King concerning some momentous
mission. Yes, we must listen with an eye on the road.
"Doing" makes a new thing of "hearing." The statute obeyed becomes a song.
The commandment is found to be a beatitude. The decree discloses riches of
grace. The hidden things of God are not discovered until we are treading
the path of obedience. "And it came to pass that as he went he received
his sight." In the way of obedience the blind man found a new world. God
has wonderful treasures for the dutiful. The faithful discover the "hidden
manna."