(By J. Lee Grady) My favorite Christian author, British preacher Charles Spurgeon, always told his Bible college students that a minister must never allow people’s opinions or attitudes to distract him from God’s holy assignment. Spurgeon urged his disciples to adopt what he called “one blind eye and one deaf ear” so they would not allow people to hinder them from fulfilling their mission.
Spurgeon wrote: “We cannot shut our ears as we do our eyes, for we have no ear lids, … yet it is possible to seal the portal of the ear so that nothing contraband will enter.” I have learned over the years that there are certain conversations I must shut out. Words have the power to inspire, but the wrong kind of words can also derail us. And in this era of Facebook outrage—where everyone feels they must inject themselves into every argument—we must learn to switch our ears off so we don’t get pulled into a fight that’s not ours. CONTINUE
