How high a price are we willing to commit to?

Why is it so hard to synchronize our hearing with our doing? We could blame the other guy, but it's us, too. Not long ago, a seventeen-year-old who had just gotten her pre-license found out, rules do matter. The driving instructor had said, "Only one non-family member allowed in the car when you drive". The road signs where she was driving clearly said, "Speed limit 55. Double fine during construction." Orange cylinders lined the road so there would be no mistaking the "double fine" area.

She was driving 75, when she saw the flashing blue lights behind her. Somehow hearing and doing just didn't synchronize in her brain and she thought the rules didn't apply to her. To make matters worse, she failed to place importance on driving instructions that said, "Only one non-family member". She ignored the rule and piled four non-family members into her car. Here she is just 17-years-old, getting a ticket she can't afford, and guess who is also affected by her actions? That's right. Her parents.

Aren't we adults just as guilty for not synchronizing our own hearing and doing? We get angry at our children for hearing and not doing. We blame it on their immaturity and a dozen other excuses, but we do the same thing when it comes to hearing the word and doing the word.

Many of us are good at "hearing the Word", but neglect to realize the power that takes place, internally, from "being a doer of the Word". Jesus said, "Whoever hears my word, but does not do them is like a man that builds his house upon sand." A sandy foundation means one thing: trouble. Just like the young girl's ticket, not being a doer of what she heard caused, her and her parents, a lot of trouble and expense. Just for the record, sin doesn't come cheap. There is always a price. The question remains: How high a price are we willing to commit to?

Hearing and doing is all about deliberately saying, "Yes", or "No" to what God warns is best for our lives.

Driving 55 MPH in a construction zone was best, and safest, for everyone's life. It seems the small things are the hardest to mentally tag, "Important", but as with this example there was a hard lesson learned for dashing ahead and ignoring the warning signs.

God didn't say to obey his Word when it's convenient. He didn't say to obey it when we had the time. He didn't say to obey it when we had trouble and needed a little prayer. What he did say was, "Whoever hears my words and does them is like a man who builds his house upon the rock; when the rains and the floods and the winds come ... the house still stands." (Matt. 7: 24-27).

Hearing and doing. They fit together like a hand and glove. The 55 MPH sign was not a "suggestion". Neither is synchronizing our hearing and doing. Yet, I like most of us, have a hard time doing it. We so quickly forget there is a price on everything. The good news is: God promises to be with us, giving us wisdom and patience.