Poor Listening Is Costly
In the ‘Nike Sedition’ of Byzantium, the usurping emperor heard from an informant that Justinian, the legitimate emperor whom he was ousting, had been urged by two of his closest advisors to flee the city. The informant thought Justinian would surely embrace their view so he neglected to stay. The Empress, Theodora, however, spoke after the informant left and she convinced Justinian to stay and fight. The result was the revolt failed and many rebels were killed.
How many times do we fail to listen well? We are making assumptions, thinking of what we are going to say, deciding who we are going to tell what we are hearing, considering why they are sharing this and the like. Sometimes we are too distracted with personal issues to really listen well (Ex 6:9, Message). It could be that we don’t realize how valuable silence can be (Lam 3:26, Rotherham). Thus, we interrupt others once we assume we understand the gist of what they are saying. When they pause, maybe we offer a quick solution or evaluation. Sometimes we are distracted and don’t offer the speaker the respect of our undivided attention. At times, we may miss a key word but not want to bother asking them for clarification. In other instances, our body language may display our desire for them to stop talking.
In whatever way that we display poor listening skills, poor listening is costly. We pass on wrong information, fail to connect with them as well as we should, and reinforce in ourselves such shortcomings as impatience, being disrespectful, and being self-absorbed. When we poorly listen, we do not benefit ourselves or what is important to us – and we do a disservice to the speaker. If we would be people who live in each moment, let us treat listening as the one vital thing we have to do at the moment someone is talking to us. Good listening increases our understanding (Prov 1:5). Careful listening is a sign of being wise (Prov 13:1) – and wisdom makes our counsel better (Prov 24:6). We are to give our full attention to what we have heard (Heb 2:1, CEV). May we become better listeners.
If we love, we will do our duty and, thus, be successful in God’s view.