Listen Carefully

"Therefore consider carefully how you listen.  Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him."  (Luke8:18)

We read this verse in the car on the way to church last week.  It was the first time I understood that the "what he thinks he has" refers to truth and understanding, not "stuff".  If you hear truth, it must be understood and used, THEN it will be multiplied and you will understand even more.  If you go to church and fail to listen carefully, you won't gain a thing.   You will lose any truth/word that you fail to use and apply in your life.  God's word is meant for application, not entertainment.

"Mary sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said...'She chose what is better and it will not be taken away from her'..." (Luke10:39,42)

I am such a Martha--worried and upset over many things.  But Jesus tells Martha that "only one thing is needed".  All the things that Martha busied herself with would pass away--the meal, the house,  the chores.  Her sister Mary chose to do the one thing that COULD NOT be taken away from her--sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to him.

'The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." (Deut. 29:29)

There are always going to be things we can't understand, but the things that God reveals to us, belong to us FOREVER.  They last.  They can't be taken away.  EVERYTHING ELSE CAN BE TAKEN AWAY.  Do you understand that?  Everything else is temporary.  Everything.

"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants."  (Deut. 32:2)

Can you take the water away from the grass after it soaks down into the roots?  No!  The water refreshes the roots and causes the grass to grow.  Once it is absorbed, it cannot be taken away.  It's the same with God's word.  If you absorb it, apply it, use it, it will accomplish its purpose and it CANNOT be taken away  from you.  I don't know about you, but I need to know that there is SOMETHING in this world than can't be taken away.

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:  It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  (Isaiah 55:10-11) 

So then, listen carefully.  Use it.  Apply it.  Grow.