Readings for the Day:
Reflection:
As the writer of James makes very clear, teaching is hard. It requires great discipline and the ability to listen, specifically to God.
That is what the reading from Isaiah tells us this morning. The tongue of the teacher is greatly dependent on the ability to get up each day and listen. We listen, as this passage tells us, specifically as "those who are taught."
Teachers have to be those who learn from God. They have to be those who listen. But listening is something we are all called to do.
We are all called to continue to be taught and formed by God and His Word. To do that, our ears have to be open, and we have to listen to what God has to say to us. The truth is God is always speaking to us during every single moment of our lives. We just have to learn how to listen.
Scripture is our starting point, just as it is always the basis for my preaching every week. As we start to listen to what God is saying to us through Scripture, we begin to learn the other ways He speaks to us as well.
Not all of us are called to be teachers, but we are all called to be those who learn. We can only do that when we listen to what God is trying to say.