I tell this joke often. My uncle bought a hearing aid, and it cost him 1500 bucks. I said 1500 bucks for a hearing aid what kind is it? He said four thirty. It always gets a chuckle, but I’ve learned first-hand hearing loss is no laughing matter. My wife and children have begged me for years to get a hearing assessment and consider purchasing hearing aids. Instead, I dug in my heels and have resisted to the point of vanity.

However, three weeks ago I decided to make an appointment to get my hearing tested. The test results weren’t horrible, but I did have fairly significant hearing loss and am now the proud owner of hearing aids. Wow! What an amazing transformation. It is unbelievable the change in just two weeks. I am discovering a whole new world of sounds that I had been missing out on. I also realized what I was putting others especially my family through due to my own obstinance over the years.

Yes, good hearing aids are not cheap. I highly recommend that you not settle for low end over the counter hearing aids and invest in your health and well-being. Every day for the past few weeks has been an adventure for me as my brain and ears adjust to and relearn what had been lost. My family is thrilled. My first Sunday at church my daughter came up behind me and whispered, “Can you hear me now?”

What really put me over the top resulting in me picking up the phone and making an appointment, was a series of articles I read on recent research revealing the connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline including the link and association with dementia. Hearing loss can be associated with a faster rate of cognitive decline. That got my attention!

I’m incredibly pleased that I took the steps to address my physical hearing.

Now let me ask you a question, “how’s your spiritual hearing? Are you dull of hearing? Can you hear me now?” Multiple times in the Scripture the phrase He who has ears to hear, let him hear is used. In Matthew and Hebrews, the idea of being “dull of hearing “refers to a spiritual state of laziness. The Greek word for dull of hearing implies laziness, sluggishness, or a lack of attentiveness to God’s Word. It describes a condition where believers have become less receptive to deeper truths and are struggling to understand and grow in their faith.

Dullness of hearing is not about a lack of intelligence but about a lack of diligence and receptivity, it signals complacency or distraction, resulting in spiritual immaturity. Physical cognitive decline due to hearing loss is bad enough and can cause issues. Get your hearing assessed. On the other hand, Spiritual decline, dullness of hearing and a lack of receptivity toward God’s Word can be catastrophic.

The writer of Hebrews writes “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

• YouTube