“Hey! I’m talking to you!” I wonder how many frustrated parents have burst out those words to a sullen teenager. Has that phrase ever been heard in your home? Communication can’t happen unless both parties are engaged in the conversation. 

Our God earnestly desires a relationship with all his human creatures, but it can’t happen without communication. The heart-faith that bonds us to our Maker is created and fueled by his Word, and when people lose interest in the Word, they begin to die spiritually. It’s been going on forever. An example from the time of the kings of Judah: “The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention” (2 Chronicles 33:10). God must have felt even less important than chopped liver.

Why do people blow him off? Because they can. After they’ve committed their various acts of defiance and nothing bad happened to them, they assume that they are sovereign agents on their own. They revel in their “freedom” and lack of accountability. But that “declaration of independence” from God is actually spiritual suicide. 

This is a big deal for you. Only those connected to Christ by faith will receive forgiveness of their sins, survive the great judgment, and be invited into heaven. God has spoken to you through his Word, revealing the blessed path of salvation. But only you can control the attention you choose to give it.