How to Make Your Spouse - and Your Pastor - Smile

“We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding.” – C.H. Spurgeon

Hearing and listening are two entirely different matters. Just ask any wife who has tried to get her husband’s attention while he was watching a football game on TV... or in my case, the final round of an important golf tournament. He may have heard what she said but trust me, he wasn’t really listening, nor can he repeat her words back verbatim.

Getting someone to hear you is Step One. Getting them to stop what they’re doing and really listen to you is Step Two. But seeing them respond appropriately to what they heard is Step Three.

Let me give you a prime – and very personal – example…

After serving in prison ministry for 35 years, I have spent the past three-plus years pastoring a small church in Vero Beach in addition to my other responsibilities with Risk Takers for Christ. On average, I have taken three Sundays off per year, which means I have preached more than 150 sermons. Most of those messages were from the Gospel of Mark, Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and the Philippians, and the Book of Exodus, although I have also preached some topical sermons at Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, and other holidays.

Do you know what gives me immense joy as a pastor? When I see the people in our congregation put into practice the biblical principles that I shared with them the previous week, the previous month, or even the previous year. That tells me that they not only heard my message, but they also listened to it… and then did their best to apply its teachings to their daily lives.

After all, my job description as a pastor is to “equip the saints for ministry” and to “build up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12); not to do all the work myself. And that can only happen when everyone chips in and does their part (I Corinthians 12).

As Charles Spurgeon said, “The Spirit of God brings to our minds the precepts and doctrines of truth and applies them with power. These are heard in the ear, and being received in the heart, they work in us to will and to do God’s good pleasure.”

Make your pastor – and your spouse – happy today by listening and then acting on what you just heard.

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President

P.S. See also Romans 10:14-15