One day I was teaching a Sunday School class of elementary kids and one little boy complained, “I’ve already heard this story!” So, did I stop there and come up with another lesson? NO! Some things you need to hear more than once to get it down in your heart and not just in your mind… and that’s what I told the little boy.
I’d like to change a familiar scripture verse to make a point. Here goes: Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Did you catch the change in this verse? You didn’t?! All I did was remove a comma after the first “hearing”… that was the only change. So now you’re saying “Faith comes by hearing and hearing” not just “Faith comes by hearing.” Let me put it this way: Knowledge comes by hearing, but faith comes by hearing and hearing. We’ve got enough “knowledgeable people” already. What we need is more “faith people.” Faith people don’t get bored with hearing the same thing more than once.
When I was a kid, my math teacher didn’t say 2+2=4 just one time. She said it over and over again until it sank down deep into me. After she said 2+2=4 for the third time I could have easily said, “Teacher, I’ve already heard this. Let’s move on to Algebra now!” But, I needed to hear it quite a few more times to the point where it was no longer “knowledge” that I had obtained but something that flowed out of me without even having to think about it.
So, ask yourself this question today: “Do I have knowledge of God’s Word or do I have faith in God’s Word?” There IS a difference. Let’s face it. There are some things we need to hear more than once to build our faith… we need to hear it over and over again… and that “thing” we need to hear is the Word of God.
Romans 10:8 (NIV)
But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim
