And I’m not just talking about listening to preachers.
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Imagine you could have a personal mentor with you at all times. Imagine the mentor was an expert in every arena: spiritual, intellectual, physical, career and so on. Imagine that you could listen to mentoring when you were doing other activities: driving, exercising, doing chores, and so on. Imagine the mentoring was all free! Guess what—that’s a pretty good description of what podcasts are. It’s a summary of why I believe God wants you to listen to podcasts.
OK, I’m a bit tongue-in-cheek on the title of this article. But hopefully you’ll agree these are some great reasons to be a podcast listener.
For years now, I’ve been an avid podcast listener, usually on my smartphone. But you don’t have to use a smartphone. Any computer, iPad, laptop, etc. with speakers and an internet connection can be used to listen to podcasts.
If you don’t know how to listen to podcasts, just google the subject and you’ll get plenty of help.
Here are three specific reasons I believe God wants you to listen to podcasts:
01. God expects us to make the best use of our time.
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV)
I have certainly wasted a lot of time over the years. I’m working to do better. Why? Because the Bible tells me to make “the best use my time.”
And because time is our most precious possession.
So I try to utilize my time as profitably as possible. But I don’t mean just earning money. I mean using my time to profit from growing in all aspects of life: spiritual, intellectual, recreational, physical and so on.
Being able to do this through digital recordings that I can listen to while doing other things is great stewardship of my time.
If I am doing something that also allows me to listen, I can make my time do double-duty.
I can listen to podcasts:
While doing routine chores
While working out at the gym or walking
While doing yard work
While driving
While waiting for appointments
While eating meals by myself
I don’t ALWAYS listen to podcasts while doing these activities. But I’ve learned so much from podcasts while utilizing “down time” that I do it as often as I can.
A few other factors make podcasts awesome for time stewardship:
Limited or no commercials.
Unlike radio, most podcasts have very little commercial time or other interruptions. If I listen to a podcast with commercials, I use a skip-ahead function in my podcast player that allows me to jump over commercials.
Listening flexibility.
I can listen to radio programs in podcast format whenever I want 24/7, not just when they’re on the radio. I can also easily pause and later return and finish a podcast. I can repeat sections I want to review. No more missing broadcasts because I wasn’t available at the right time.
Speed-up function.
My Pocket Casts podcast app has the ability to speed up a podcast without making the speaker sound like the Chipmunks. (Other podcast players do also.) If a speaker seems too slow, or I’m just in a hurry, I can listen two or three times as fast, or anywhere between. Wow!
02. God wants us to grow through mentoring from others.
“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22 ESV)
Learning from the insights and knowledge of others isn’t optional. God wants us to learn and grow from the counsel of others.
Just choose an area, skill or other way you want to grow. These days you can find a good podcast on almost any topic. Just search the internet and there’s a good chance you’ll find a podcast on the desired topic.
While writing this article, I did some searches:
We had our windows washed recently so out of curiosity I did a google search for “podcast window washing.” Guess what, up came “The Window Washing Podcast!” Wow. Our son Gabe loves classic video games. So I searched “Podcast video games.” Up popped many podcasts and an article titled “These are the Five Video Gaming Podcasts You Need in Your Life.”But let’s get more serious. I searched for “podcast Christian growth” and up popped many podcasts and an article with “The 25 Must Listen to Christian Podcasts.”I searched for “podcast Christian parenting” and found tons of podcasts.
Do you have to be discerning, especially about spiritual counsel? Certainly! Make sure your spiritual mentors are Bible based.
03. God wants us to be good financial stewards and podcasts are free!
“So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke 16:11 NIV)
I remember the days when to listen to recorded sermons I had to buy or borrow cassette tapes. Before that, 7-inch reel-to-reel tapes were the standard, and they weren’t cheap either.
Today, because digital delivery is so inexpensive, we can listen to podcasts of the best pastors in the world without charge.
Some people say I’m frugal, others might say I’m just cheap. I prefer to think that I am a careful steward of the money God has entrusted to me.
I have never paid for any podcast, yet the content is usually outstanding, even life changing. Wow!
In conclusion, Amish Christians believe that modern devices are unnecessary and can corrupt us. So they still use horse and buggies to travel. But most Christians believe that we should use inventions like the automobile to better serve God. If you’re not a podcast listener, it’s time to take advantage of this remarkable new time saving invention to grow and better serve God.
Of course there’s one podcast that you never, ever want to miss. It’s my own podcast “Christianity Questions and Answers.” You can even submit your own questions, and I’ll work to get it into the schedule to answer on an upcoming podcast!
Also, since last year I’ve recorded each of my weekly blogs for those who prefer to listen rather than read. Just click on the play button above each blog.
So listen to podcasts—God wants you to!