in one ear and out the other…

have you ever asked yourself, why is it that we don't change? the united stares air force did a study and found that we forget 90-95% of everything we hear within 72 hours. if you want a statistic that will depress a pastor, that's it.

this is the problem that all of us have, even me. i have gone to seminars and heard things and i said, i really want to work on that and i then come home and misplace the outline and i forget all about it. i do nothing. i had already forgotten what i was so excited about and motivated about.

how is it that people can come to church year after year and never really be changed? because it goes in one ear and out the other.

there in luke 8.13 (niv), it says that the second kind of person, receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. in other words, they don't retain it. HE's saying, you can be thrilled without being transformed.

i journal everyday during my quiet time. when i'm reading in my bible and some verse of scripture says something to me, i stop and write what it says to me, i write it there in my journal. i want to remember it, i want to review it.

some would say, i've been a CHRISTian for 27 years... no, they've been a believer for 27 years but they haven't had 27 years of experience. just one year of experience, 27 times.

you have to keep relearning because you're not retaining it. you've got to take time to let it sink in. you need to schedule time every day where you set down with your bible and read, think about your life, maybe review some of the lessons you've learned, write things down and keep growing by reviewing.

it takes commitment to say, "i'm going to set down and regularly review what i'm being taught." why should GOD teach me new things if i haven't put into practice what HE taught me last week? or yesterday? or last night?

why do people have no roots? because they don't take the time. how do you get roots? allocate time to listen. say, GOD, i'm going to spend 10 minutes, 20 minutes every day. it's not the amount of time.

just a thought from the front porch…