Quick to Forget

by Zeke Flores

How many times have you heard a thing, yet forget what you heard in a matter of minutes? The older we get, the more we are “quick to hear, fast to forget.” Or, as we’ve all heard it, it’s in one ear and out the other. But the malady isn’t merely age-related.

Jesus warned about the problem in His parable of the sower and the seed (Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8), which is more of a story about different kinds of “soil” or attitudes of the heart. Jesus explains that the seed sown is “the word of God” (Luke 8:11). You’d think such an important message would immediately be held fast, protected, and practiced. You’d think.

Unfortunately, after hearing such crucial information, we read about many who immediately forget all about its requirements and make no changes to accommodate themselves to it. While some people are willing to bask in the glow of such good news for a while, they are quick to leave it alone.

Ezekiel, the prophet, spoke of some who sang God’s message with "a beautiful voice" but still didn’t live according to it (Ezekiel 33:32). Isaiah mentioned some who delighted to know God’s ways but not enough to practice them (Isaiah 58:2). Not much has changed since then.

Hearing is not always believing, and believing is not necessarily doing. If we want God’s word to abide deeply in us, we’ve got to let it take root and root deep. This is done by hearing and then doing what He says.

Hearing and heeding, ah, now that’s the ticket.

"To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. Fro whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him" (Matthew 13:11-12).