You’ve heard of the “he said she said” go-round. What REALLY DID he or she say? Hard to know, because someone was hearing what he or she WANTED or EXPECTED to hear. In reality they heard their own thoughts, not what was really said. The words were interpreted—or MIS-interpreted—in the process of hearing. Someone was lying with their ears.
Lying? Yes, because it was intentionally mis-heard.
That is why Jesus said,
Mark 4:23–24 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
It is a serious issue with God. HisisHiHisHihi view is not light.
Colossians 3:9 9Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
When do our EARS tell a lie? When they give our heart a wrong message, a deceived message, a false message.
Listening is a delicate art. Whatever is said, true “hearing” requires honest interpreting on the part of the listener. Truthful hearing means the listener must “hear it right,” without converting, or translating, or massaging the message.
It is possible to “hear” and miss the speaker’s point completely—because we were tuned to a different wavelength!
This is especially true with Scripture.
Because we had a different idea in mind and that is what we thought we heard.
Because our ears lied, transmitting to our minds a different message than was actually spoken.
1- Example: Someone makes a statement. DO we hear WHAT they said, or what we WANTED (or expected) them to say?
It is so easy to turn the truth into a lie, and lie with our ears. As Paul said about the false teachers who would be coming, they…
Romans 1:25 25…exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
The problem may be caused by “evil imaginations.” It is something we have to battle all the time. It is so easy to draw an unjustified conclusion from something we THOUGHT we heard but only heard because we already had it in our minds. Paul says,
2 Corinthians 10:4–5 4For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5casting down arguments [imaginations] and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
Paul says, Capture—throw a harness around—those evil imaginations and make them obey Christ. Then you won’t be lying with your ears.
Aren’t those stray imaginings the source of grist for the RUMOR MILL?
God operates no Rumor mill, He wants only honest, truthful hearing.
2- We lie with our ears when we WANT what God forbids us to have. If our WANT persists—as it did with the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, the lie goes on. They had a serious “ear” problem, so acute that they were actually pleased to lie with their ears. They had their ears tuned to what God called DIS-honor.
John 12:42–43 42Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
There is the key to why they didn’t “hear” Jesus’ message. They were lying with their ears. They had intentionally closed Jesus out. It was a voluntary MIS-understanding of Christ’s message. They had closed Jesus out because they wanted man’s praise and honor.
3- We lie with our ears when we intentionally close them—and at the same time close out the message we could have and should have heard. Hear it from Jesus:
Mark 4:23 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
He said it so many times, both in the gospels and in Revelations. In other words, you have ears? Keep them open and listen.
Closed ears make a lie of what could have been “heard.” We are like the little boy who didn’t come when his parents called him. What was the problem?
“I didn’t hear you the first time,” he explained.
4- We lie with our ears when we don’t listen carefully—and miss the facts. How many times the Bible says, “Pay attention.” “Take heed.”
Hear it from Jesus:
Mark 4:24 24Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given.
How we hear can have far-reaching consequences. This is from Luke’s gospel:
Luke 8:18 18Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”
It is the result of what we HEAR. We can lose even what we SEEMED to have by our careless listening!
No wonder Hebrews tells us to pay attention:
Hebrews 2:1 NLT1We ought, therefore, to pay the greatest attention to the truth that we have heard and not allow ourselves to drift away from it.
We can’t be doing two things at once. We won’t hear it right, we won’t take in all the facts unless we pay attention to the truth we have heard.
5- We lie with our ears when we jump to conclusions. What says the proverb?
Proverbs 18:13 13He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.
It is folly and shame because it is a lie—the facts were lost in the jump! This is where love is lost, because instead of jumping at conclusions, Paul says we should go carefully, thoughtfully, with love and good grace.
1 Cor. 13:7 Moffatt Bible[Love is] always slow to expose, always eager to believe the best, always hopeful, always patient.”
Agape love would keep our ears hearing what is true, slowly and carefully, to get the right point, the right message, the right meaning. Then we must apply it.
The love is lost when we lie with our ears, as when we are corrected and duck under our moral umbrella and let the “rain” run off. The force is lost because we took it out of its intended context.
We make another lie when we take something specific and apply it in generality. When God says “I mean you,” and we say, “This is the way of the world…”
What have we done, but changed the “truth” we heard into a meaningless lie!