Listen Closely

My wife and I have been married for 15 years. We have gone through many storms in life and I know there will be in the days ahead. Storms are a part of life. When we are having a difficult discussion we have a saying that makes us pay very close attention to the other person. It doesn’t matter how heated the argument is, it doesn’t matter how right I think I am if Kim says these five words, I pay real close attention. She doesn’t just throw these words that I am about to share you around anytime she wants to win an argument. No, she has only used them 10 or so times in our entire marriage. We only use these words to convey something of deep importance. When she uses them—I stop everything and really try to understand her side of things. Here are the words, "This is important to me."

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

As disciples of Jesus, we can do nothing without Him. As you will see in today’s story- fishermen can’t even catch one lousy fish without Jesus.

Luke 4:17-19

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
   "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
      because he has anointed me
      to preach good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
      and recovery of sight for the blind,
   to release the oppressed,
    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

1 John 4:16

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

These words are so deep. Profound. Who can understand the depth of them? Who am I that God should live in me? And me in Him?

Jeremiah 18:1-9

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:   “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”   So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, SHAPING IT AS SEEMED BEST TO HIM.

Then the word of the Lord came to me:   “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? ” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."

How do you determine what to do today? What steps to take? Who to call? What to say yes to and what to say no to? Do I go this way or that way? Which direction does God want me to go?

These are deep questions that we have on an ongoing basis. Today, I want us to think deeply about some verses, and ponder the implications of these passages on our lives.