In Luke 8:18 Jesus makes a statement that is repeated five
times in three of the Gospels. Today I want us to look at the truth and see how
we can apply it to our lives. “Therefore take heed how you hear. For
whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he
seems to have will be taken from him" (v. 18). Three of the times that
we read this statement in the Gospels it is connected to the parable of the
sower and the seed. (Matthew 13:12; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18).
The main application of course is that we must make sure
that we receive God’s Word with a “noble and good heart”. We should receive God’s
Word honestly and respond to it by acknowledging it is the Truth, repenting of
our sins, and receiving it into our hearts to obey and live by. Immediately when
we receive and obey the Word we hear, the Holy Spirit will open our minds and
hearts to understand more of God’s Word. He gives us more light to dispel the
darkness in our hearts.
This is where 1 John 1:6-9 becomes a reality to us: “If
we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do
not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
But if we chose to reject the Word we hear, our hearts get
harder. Paul describes it this way in Ephesians 4:18, “They are darkened in
their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance
that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” Proverbs 4:19 says: “But the way of the
wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over.”
The further away from God’s Word we get, the darker it becomes, and we
literally lose even our good sense! Sounds like what is happening in America
today. John also points this out in John 3:19-20; “And this is the judgment:
the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than
the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things
hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be
exposed.”
This is why Jesus said in Luke 8:18, “Therefore take
heed how you hear”. And in Mark 4:24, Jesus said, “Take heed what you
hear”. It is vitally important that we also make sure we quit listening to
the lies of the devil and the world that only bring more darkness into our
lives. Both what we hear and how we hear and receive it is crucial so that we can
receive “more” of His light, or we lose the light that we have! (v. 18)
In two of the Gospels, Matthew 25:28-29 and Luke 19:26,
Jesus makes a similar statement: “For I say to you, that to everyone who has
will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken
away from him.” Both of these statements are connected to His story of the
master who gave talents or minas to his servants for a period of time and then
came back and required an account of what they had done with them. In Matthew,
it says that he gave to each according to his own ability. One received five
talents, another two, and another one. The one that had five made five more,
and therefore had ten. The one that had two made two more, and therefore had
four. But the one who had one, hid it in the ground and did nothing with it.
The master then took his one and gave it the man that now
had ten. With that story in mind, Jesus then makes the statement that basically
teaches us that if we use and invest His gifts and abilities that He gives us
for His kingdom, He will give us more responsibility and increase our impact
and influence that we can make in His kingdom work. But if we fail to use what
He gives us, we will even lose what we do have. In other words, if we snooze,
we will lose!
How does the Lord want you to apply this truth and principle
to your life today?
God bless!
