This is Election Day! I am so glad. Oh I know that it is important. I know that there is a lot at stake in these local and national elections. But I will be so glad to no longer hear these candidates’ commercials. I mean commercials from both political parties. Over and over these commercials scream for listeners. After awhile, I think that many of us just become numb to all of the noise. (By the way, you might enjoy looking at The Living Room Candidate sometime. This site has presidential commercials of both parties from 1952-2004).
Sometimes, I think that I listen to the wrong voices. I watch television and become dissatisfied with things that I was ok with thirty minutes earlier. All it takes is a few commercials and I can become dissatisfied with my car, my watch, my soft drink, and my bank. Message after message communicates to the listeners, "What you have is not good enough. You need something new."
So do you ever find yourself listening to the wrong voices?
You listen to the person who constantly complains about his job, and you realize that you no longer have much joy in your job now.
You listen to some old messages in your head. You replay these messages from long ago communicated by certain people who told you that you were inferior and inadequate. You feel depressed after reliving those memories.
You listen to the values of this culture where worth is place on a person by achievement, physical attractiveness, wealth, and social status. You come away feeling like you are really not much.
You listen to a couple of Christians who manage to help get you agitated about this or that (usually involving the life of the church). Life itself is hard enough but you leave these people discouraged about church as well.
You listen to Satan, the evil one, who reminds you of your shame. He has a way of reminding you of the horrible thing that you did a few years ago. You hear his accusations. "You are a hypocrite. A phony. Why if these people only knew what you did, they would never respect you again." You come away from such thoughts feeling anything but loved by God.
Do you know that Jesus is the one who we need to be listening to? When I listen to him in Scripture, I am reminded all over again that I am…
Valued and treasured by him
Loved by him in spite of my sins
Forgiven and cleansed by him
Complete and whole in him
Placed in the body of Christ by him
Given his presence to live in me through the Holy Spirit
When I listen to him instead of the other voices, I once again realize that the treasure is already mine.