Hear? Listen? Obey?

What's the difference between the three?

Hear.

Listen.

Obey.

I realized this week that in some dialects of Chinese and in Vietnamese, there isn't really a word for "obey" and if so, it is not commonly used. Instead, the command prompt for someone to obey is simply "listen to my word." 

That implies that obedience is a part of listening. You cannot just audibly receive the command and not do it. If so, it is just "hearing." (Ex: I heard you but I won't do it.) The rejection would be to say, "I will not listen to your word." This brings us to James 1:22-25 --

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

We are called to listen and not just hear. The danger is this: WE DECEIVE OURSELVES. That needs to be strongly emphasized since we live in a day and age where people believe that they can live in sin and still call themselves "Christian." 

The other part of it is verse 24 (highlighted). We used to run calls to the nursing home and go down the wing with psychiatric patients. In front of a room was a photo of the resident and also a mirror. This is to aid those who have severe dementia and no longer remember what they look like. They learn to match the mirror with the face in order to identify their rooms. 

That sounds bad and really sad, doesn't it? That is the analogy that James decides to use. In his mind, you cannot listen without obeying. The two are so intertwined that if you separate it, he associates it to a mental disorder. 

Spend time to hear. Then truly listen [obey] what you have heard. Or we may endanger ourselves with deception.