Echo

We live in a world that feels smaller than ever, yet our conversations have become increasingly narrow. Algorithms feed us content we already agree with. News outlets cater to our fears and preferences. Even our friendships, online and offline, can become echo chambers where every voice sounds like our own. It feels safe, but it’s not.

Paul warned Timothy about this very human tendency: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3–4, ESV). We want affirmation more than correction. We crave comfort more than truth.

But God’s call is different. When Moses spoke to Israel, he didn’t tell them to curate their own set of voices. He said, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). This kind of hearing isn’t passive. It’s a deliberate choice to let God’s voice cut through the noise. Jesus made the same point when he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9). The danger isn’t physical deafness. It’s a heart that refuses to listen because it’s already satisfied with the sound of itself.

When we stay in our silos, two things happen. First, we stop loving others well. It’s hard to bless those who curse us or love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) if we never listen to anyone outside our tribe. Second, we stop loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). Instead of curiosity and discernment, we grow defensive and rigid.

Paul’s alternative is clear: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Renewal means exposure to something beyond ourselves. It means allowing Scripture to challenge us and even letting people with whom we disagree remind us that they, too, bear God’s image (Genesis 1:27). James put it plainly: “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). Listening doesn’t mean agreeing. It means slowing down enough to value others as God does.

Jesus didn’t remain in the safe echo of heaven. He entered a noisy, divided, and hostile world, not to confirm our biases but to rescue us from them. If the only voices we hear sound like us, maybe it’s time to step out of the algorithm and into the more complex, holier work of hearing God and loving others.

~PW 🌮🛶‌