Hearing Aid
Originally scheduled for October 14
Getting your first hearing aid can be an
interesting experience.
Once you get past the initial testing of your
ears — the frustrating process of listening for beeps that may or
may not be there — you discover that it is not a simple matter of
handing you a hearing aid. There are multiple adjustments that must
be made, usually with a hearing aid connected to a computer. The
person doing the work mumbles a good deal (at least until you get
the hearing aid in) and speaks in jargon completely unfamiliar to
the user. Meanwhile, you just sit there. It’s a little frustrating
to think that it’s your hearing aid, going through all these
adjustments, but the only adjustment that actually pertains to you
is whether or not you can stick it in your ear.
There is usually a button to push; the real
instructions come at the end of the session. You are handed a little
cleaning tool and given the only firm instructions you’ll get. The
admonition a simple: keep the hearing aid clean. If you don’t, it
won’t work. If you can change the batteries and use the little
brush, you can keep the hearing aid working.
But if it isn’t clean it won’t work. That’s not
at all unique to hearing aids. For example, there is a good reason
you change the oil in your car. There’s a reason there’s an oil
filter in your car — he’s things keep the oil clean, which
lubricates the engine well, and keeps you on the road instead of the
repair shop. This also applies — believe it or not — to your
computer. Particularly for those machines that have a tower that is
placed on the floor, it’s possible for cat hair, dust and dirt to
clog the filter and sometimes get in the machine itself. This can
cause some of the sensitive bits to overheat — and that’s not good.
If it isn’t clean, it won’t work. Did you know
that also applies to Christians? We are meant to have a relationship
with our Lord based upon righteousness. We cannot achieve such
righteousness by ourselves, but that does not relieve us of the
effort of trying.
How do you do this? The process starts with
self-examination. There’s a reason it’s part of communion; if you
want to have the right relationship with your Lord, the regular
cleansing of the Christian is a requirement. That means you’re going
to have to examine yourself. Check and see that nothing is clogged
by sin. Sin gets between you and the Lord Jesus Christ; seek his
help in sweeping it out of the way. You do this by repentance, then
asking forgiveness. He will only forgive, but cleanse.
Once you’ve done this, then, you are ready to
take communion. Your relationship is restored and cleansed once
again. But don’t forget who made this possible. Communion is a
memorial to the sacrifice Christ made on the cross, and it is by
that sacrifice that you are made clean. Therefore, as you take
communion honor the Lord who makes your cleansing possible.
