Open ears

Let's talk parables this bright morning.

As in Luke 16: 19-31:19-21"There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man's table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores.
22-24"Then he died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the lap of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell and in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his lap. He called out, 'Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water to cool my tongue. I'm in agony in this fire.'

25-26"But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you got the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It's not like that here. Here he's consoled and you're tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to, nor can anyone cross over from you to us.'

27-28"The rich man said, 'Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the house of my father where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score and warn them so they won't end up here in this place of torment.'

29"Abraham answered, 'They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them listen to them.'

30"'I know, Father Abraham,' he said, 'but they're not listening. If someone came back to them from the dead, they would change their ways.'

31"Abraham replied, 'If they won't listen to Moses and the Prophets, they're not going to be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.'"

Couple points here:
1) The rich man isn't punished for being rich, but rather for not noticing the poor man.
2) To me the key line is, "...but they're not listening."

We Methodists have gotten all up in a wad because we're shrinking (obviously in numbers and not waistlines). We're not bringing in as many folk. We're not getting as many professions of faith. We're not what we were.

All that stuff is important, but the bigger question to me is how do we get them listening?

What is it that will change the way the world views us, Christians not Methodists? What is it that will change their hearts?

If a person won't believe a man came back from the dead and can do the same for them, what can I possibly say that will make a difference in their lives?

I have no answer. I am speechless. I hurt in my heart for them.

But I know not what to do.

How do we get them to listen? Pray today that someone in your life has their ears opened by God.