When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”  Jesus replied, “Go back and tell John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear …” (Matthew 11:2-5).

When I was a kid, I said something that really impressed my grandma.

Yeah, maybe your grandma is easy to impress; mine was not.

Anyway, she was speaking to me, but I was not paying attention—bad habit, not impressive.  Gram called me on my inattentiveness and asked if I had heard her.

“Oh, I heard you,” I said.  “I just wasn’t listening.”

Gram took a moment to praise me for making the linguistic distinction before shredding me for not paying attention to her.  Funny how a thing like that sticks in your head.

Christ has healed your ears, spiritually speaking.  The sin nature that kept you from hearing God has been defeated.

You can hear, Beloved.

But are you listening?