THE mental nature of hearing and its relation to obedience stand out in these words of Jesus: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." He also emphasized resistance to wrong impulses when he said, "And a stranger will they not follow, . . . for they know not the voice of strangers." The voice of the stranger may be construed as meaning every lure or threat of evil, for these would turn us from spiritual growth and hinder our dominion over material sense.
The twofold ability to hear and follow the call of Truth and to detect and reject evil in all its guises holds the key to salvation for all mankind. Intelligent thought censorship is of the utmost value in daily life, for whosoever turns a deaf ear to evil thoughts will not drift into evil actions.
Disobedience is sometimes unconscious rather than willful. Therefore it is well to pray for that single-heartedness, that unrestricted loyalty, which reaches out to hear the demands of divine Principle, and so becomes increasingly aware of them. The behests of Spirit which we do not hear we fail to obey, but a deep and undivided love of good quickens our sense of spiritual hearing. Eager preparedness to obey unfolds to our listening ear the divine demands; whereas a mental state of reluctant obedience, or mere mental somnolence, tends to close the ears to the call of God, good. We should be minutemen, eager to hear and obey the bugle call of Spirit.
