The development of social media has raised up a generation of people who place tremendous value on the self. The sum total of our life has been how much content we produce, how often it’s viewed and how many followers we have. Many children are growing up with the desire to have all eyeballs on them as they create what they believe is important and world-changing. In our culture of content production and consumption many people have lost the ability to truly listen to others.
At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his listeners about two men: the wise man and the foolish man. The distinguishing characteristic between these two men? The wise man took the time to listen and act on what he heard, the foolish man did not (Mt. 7:24-27).
The foolish man heard Jesus’ words, but disregarded them in pursuit of producing his own content. The wise man knew that what Jesus had said was important, so he implemented those actions and found great success.