How Many Voices Are You Listening To?
Hearing The Voice in a world with many voices.
Our world is filled with noise. Specifically, voices. Voices that battle to influence our minds, and persuade our actions. From political parties, tv pundits, and corporate America, to self-help “gurus”, horoscopes, fortune tellers, and your favorite instagram account, the battleground to indoctrinate what we believe is fierce.
Our doctors tell us the latest drugs we should take. Teachers and the education system tell us what knowledge and social issues are important. Groups tell us what genders make up the human race. Financial professionals tell us what we should do with our money. Your horoscope tells you what your tendencies are, and how you need to change to make things better. New age literature tells us things like “God doesn’t care about what we do, He loves us as we are and isn’t judging our behavior.” The thousands of religions tell us thousands of different things about God and life. Atheists say there is no God, and our value is self-created. Social media accounts arbitrarily post things like “A blessing is going to pour out on you this month, receive it!” Voice, after voice, after voice. Who are you listening to?
As Christians, we are not immune to these voices. When we step out the house or pick up our phones, we encounter them. Unfortunately, some of us adhere to these voices when we really shouldn’t. We love to embrace our zodiac signs. We love to embrace motivational speakers who contradict the things of God. Our favorite entertainer may have more influence over how we think and what we do than Jesus Himself. The podcasts we love to listen to on the way to work, or that playlist that gets us through the workout; our daily national politics recap, or the casual scrolls of our IG feed are all voices vying for our attention, but they are not The Voice.
In Acts Chapter 9, Luke gives us a description of what happened when the Apostle Paul (then named Saul) met the Lord Jesus. In this account, one thing that should stick out to us related to this topic is in verses 4 and 5, which read:
4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting
Paul heard a voice. Not two voices, or five, or a counsel of many. One voice, and one voice alone. When Paul asked who it was that possessed ownership of this voice, a voice that Paul knew belonged to the Lord God, Jesus replied that it was His voice. The voice of Jesus, and Jesus alone.
Again, in the Gospel of Matthew, the people heard a voice while witnessing the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16-17), when God declared of Jesus “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Time and time again in Scripture, God speaks to His people, and they hear but ONE voice. Even when He spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament period, they never said “Thus says the gods” or “Thus says Jeremiah” or “Thus says Oprah”; they spoke “Thus says the Lord”. The emphasis was on one God. The voice of God is the one voice that we should be seeking to hear. His voice is the voice that is above all others.
This does not mean that we shouldn’t consider and take heed to other voices in our lives. There are indeed people we will meet who are wise, knowledgeable, and can be helpful to us. Scripture says that God rains on the just and the unjust. He has made himself known to all men, and all humans are made in his image and likeness, so good counsel may come from all people here and there. Yet, there is a final voice that has rule over all other voices. There is a most wise voice; a most loving voice; a most trusting voice; and that is the voice of the Lord Jesus.
The most powerful and problematic voice that we may hear, is our own. Each and everyday, we battle against our own sinful nature, and the remnants of our carnal mind that wants to fight against the Spirit of the Lord. But, be encouraged. Paul says that we have the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). With every mind, there is a voice. Therefore, by the Spirit we have the voice of Christ. In the Bible, we read His words. Listen to The Voice. Peace. - Jasen
