Nehemiah built a wall. The wall became a highly charged political thing. Those opposed to the wall ridiculed those who were building it, made fun of their work, fought against it to get rid of the workers, lied about the intent and motivation for the wall being built and even pretended to want to have a peaceful discussion when their real intent was to do harm.
Last night I installed a security system in my house. Jane had been wanting it for some time, but I move rather slowly on some things. We did not install it because we do not want visitors nor to have people to stay with us. We installed it because not everyone is a visitor who desires entrance into our house.
We try to be generous people. But there is a difference between generosity and theft.
I remember a time when the house of my grandparents was never locked. But we have locks on every door. It is rare to find a house today where there is such security in a neighborhood there is no need to lock the doors. We live in a neighborhood close to that kind of security, but if we leave a door unlocked, it is by accident.
If you disagree with the direction this article seems to be going, you may have already stopped reading. If the article was taking a different slant you too would likely have stopped reading.
Which brings me to my point. Why do we stop listening? Why do we allow things to become so politically charged that we stop listening? If I only listen to what I personally believe to be true, how can I ever be persuaded or corrected if what I personally believe my not be entirely true?
Listening does not necessarily mean accepting, but I should at least be able to honestly explain what another is saying. Shouldn’t brothers be this way with one another? Families? Fellow citizens?