Deep Waters

Can You EAR Me?

September 15, 2024 Kenneth Shelton Season 15 Episode 14

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Do you react without knowing how God would react or do you respond according to your built up and ready at any given moment relationship with God? 

This message is about the difference between those two words and what happens when we do one or the other. Let’s dictionary.com them in order to lay a good foundation:

D-Com 

REACT – 

  1. to act in response to an agent or influence:

How did the audience react to the speech?

  1. to act reciprocally upon each other, as two things.
  2. to act in a reverse direction or manner, especially so as to return to a prior condition.
  3. to act in opposition, as against some force.
  4. to respond to a stimulus in a particular manner:

reacting to a shock by jumping; to react to the word “coward” with anger.

RESPOND - 

  1. to reply or answer in words:

to respond briefly to a question.

Synonyms: rejoin

  1. to make a return by some action as if in answer:

to respond generously to a charity drive.

Synonyms: reply, react, rise

  1. to react favorably.
  2. Physiology. to exhibit some action or effect as if in answer; react:

Nerves respond to a stimulus.

  1. to correspond (usually followed by to ).
  2. Bridge. to make a response.

Ok so we see that in either case we can react or respond in the same manner potentially getting the same result. But we aren’t talking as if this were even slightly possible. 

You see I can react in anger, or I can respond in anger. See it? So what or how can we distinguish the difference, because what I am talking about is the difference between these statements? I mean there has to be a way, and by golly there is, at least for this message, to distinguish and to use that method once discovered, and allowed to lead us in very tense situations.