Today, two men help me communicate who Jesus is. They are completely opposite of one another in most ways, yet very similar in another way. One is silly. One is serious. Both are sincere.
Buddy the Elf
My favorite Christmas movie is “Elf.” One of the famous quotes from this movie comes from a scene when Buddy the Elf reads a sign in the window of a run-down café in New York City. The sign says, “World’s Best Cup of Coffee.” Buddy excitedly walks into the café and with a biggest smile says, “You did it! Congratulations! World’s best cup of coffee! Great job, everyone!”
I love Buddy’s enthusiasm.
As I remember Buddy the Elf, it makes me smile.
Buddy was completely sincere. He believed their sign, their word, that they had the world’s best cup of coffee.
Today as I think of who Jesus is to me, I can sincerely and enthusiastically say because I believe His word:
Jesus is the World’s Best Listener!
Carl Rogers, Psychologist and Author
I remembered Carl Rogers today too. He’s the author of A Way of Being. I learned of him in graduate school. What I remember of him is his description of “hearing” someone. Rogers was known for really “hearing” others. He found great satisfaction is hearing someone. It enriched his life. I can only imagine, his “hearing” enriched the life others too.
I believe Rogers had a unique gift of listening or hearing others.
This is how Rogers described hearing:
“When I say that I enjoy hearing someone, I mean, of course, hearing deeply. I mean that I hear the words, the thoughts, the feeling tones, the personal meaning, even the meaning that is below the conscious intent of the speaker. Sometimes too, in a message which superficially is not very important, I hear a deep human cry that lies buried and unknown far below the surface of the person.”
I think this is the best way for me to describe how Jesus listens to us. He hears us.
From my experience and understanding of Jesus, I can seriously and sincerely say, Jesus hears us. Like Rogers, Jesus enjoys hearing others.
Jesus is the World’s Best Listener!
Prayer is our communication process of having a conversation with Jesus. While it’s a two-way conversation and God speaks to us, He also listens really well.
I’ve told Jesus some pretty juicy things too over the years. 🙂
I can wholeheartedly say, Jesus loves listening to me. He actually hears me.
Listen to His Words:
- “However, God has listened; He has paid attention to the sound of my prayer” (Psalm 66:19, HCSB).
- “But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him” (Psalm 4:3, ESV).
- “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12).
- “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:15, EVS).
Friends, Jesus hears us.
But Jesus doesn’t just hear our words. He hears our thoughts, our feeling tones, the personal meaning. Jesus hears our deepest human cry that’s buried and unknown even to the one who is speaking, in my case, that’s me. In your case, that’s you.
Jesus loves listening to us and because He does, our lives are enriched.
This Advent season, may you experience being heard, truly heard from the World’s Best Listener: Jesus!
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