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“Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone who has, more will be
given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have
will be taken away.” Luke 8:18
Do you have much? Or little? According to Jesus’ words, if you have
much, then you will receive much more; but if you have little, then
you will lose even what you have. Does this seem fair?
Of course, our Lord is not speaking in worldly terms. He’s not
saying that if you have much money, then you will gain more, or if
you are poor, then you will become poorer. Instead, Jesus is
speaking about the grace that comes from understanding His holy
Word. Notice that the passage above begins by saying, “Take care,
then, how you hear.”
To “hear” the Word of God implies that you truly receive what Jesus
teaches. Hearing is not just hearing the words spoken with your
ears. One early Church Father, Saint Bede, explains that truly
hearing the Word of God with our minds leads us to love that Word,
and loving the Word leads to understanding. This is not
accomplished by an intellectual exercise alone, as if our natural
gifts are the primary means by which we comprehend all that Jesus
teaches. Rather, it comes through spiritual insight gained by the
supernatural gift of the Spirit Who teaches us all things.
If you want “more” understanding of the mysteries of God, then
commit yourself to engaging the holy Scriptures with your mind.
Read the Scriptures, ponder them and pray with them. It’s easy to
forget that the Word of God is a Living Word. This means that when
we prayerfully immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, we are
prayerfully encountering God Himself. God is alive in His holy
Word. We meet Him, personally, and this happens only by a special
grace that we must be open to receive.
The beautiful aspect of this teaching of Jesus is that the more we
understand His Word by this grace, the more we will immerse
ourselves in it, and it will continue to grow within us. If,
however, we devote little time to engaging the Word of God in
prayer, we will begin to “forget,” so to speak, the spiritual
depths of the wisdom of God. We will lose the little understanding
we have and when this happens, we will be prone to engaging and
accepting the many confusions and deceptions alive in our
world.
Reflect, today, upon your practice of prayerfully meditating upon
the Scriptures. If this is not your current practice, resolve to
make it so. Perhaps start with one of the Gospels and commit
yourself to prayerfully reading it little by little every day. The
goal is not to get through the books of the Bible. The goal is to
enter into each book. Every chapter and every line provides us with
a depth of spiritual insight and understanding just waiting to be
given and received. Commit yourself to this holy practice, and you
will be amazed at the spiritual riches our Lord bestows upon
you.
Living Word of God, my Lord and my King, I thank You for the way
in which You come to me and all Your children through Your written
Word. Fill me with a love for that Word so that I will daily engage
my mind in the deep truths revealed within it. May I meet You, dear
Lord, and grow in an understanding of Who You are and what You wish
to reveal to me. Jesus, I trust in You.
Didgeman, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
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