by David Brenneman
“Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him.” Luke 8:16-18.
That verse 18 stuck with me last night and across all the versions that I was reading last night it was consistently the same.
Be careful of what goes into your ears! The many times throughout His ministry, Jesus said profound words and finished with saying "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" should be something we grasp onto.
We are a very complacent people when it comes to what we feed our hearts through our ears. Many times, in times of war, this is how people are broken. An incessant barrage of auditory methods that go straight to the heart and mind of individuals. Satan's first attack on humanity began with "Did God say...". The days whereby Jesus was tempted in every way in the wilderness was through the words spoken by Satan. In our world it comes from those whom we listen to from video's, podcasts, streaming content, video games and all forms of 'entertainment' including sports and recreation.
We are not well versed in taking care of how we listen. We even convinced ourselves that our music is not that bad, it's after all got a good beat and makes us feel good. Music, exactly like visual formats, hits a very different part of our brains than the written word we take in with our eyes.
In hospitals they have learned that specifically orchestrated music therapy activities bring healing.
We listen to secular music and don't realize what it's doing to us spiritually. We can also overdose on even spiritual music and neglect the Word of God. Any good thing can be abused.
As Jesus said here...take care with what you listen to.
I learned a long time ago about doing this before I was even aware of the verse where Jesus said something about it. I wasn't glorifying God with my behavior from what I was watching on television. I wasn't glorifying God by most of the secular music I was listening to. I wasn't glorifying God by my behavior while participating with other's during a football game. Quite the contrary I was only glorifying everything but God. I was verbally tearing people down. My intake of secular music was warping my sense of right and wrong.
My Dear Reader take care what you listen to. Read that passage again. Jesus was NOT making a mere suggestion.
A garden will only grow well when it's tended well.
We sew seeds of all kinds of negativity in what we allow into our ears. We do not build people up in Christ if our only intake of material is that which is of the world.
"Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person." Colossians 4:5-6.
There's at least 13 times in the Bible where there's a statement of having ears to hear.
How is it we so easily look to the world's anything to build ourselves up in Christ when that way never works?
We choose what we listen to.
We should really 'listen' to what we have accepted as good and ok to listen to. Are we ever going to glorify God with this stuff? Are we feeding rage and anger by that which we take in? Are we feeding thoughts of sins such as adulteries or idolatry? Are we causing ourselves to dwell on characters in a song that were unfaithful?
Think about what you're feeding yourself through your ears. We are a culture hung up on all forms of auditory and visual consumption. We have just adapted to soaking up anything in order to honestly keep from thinking. We take in all kinds of information through these methods and not all of it will ever help us turn our eyes upon Jesus.
Take care of what you listen to.
Jesus said that every careless word that people speak about we will give an accounting for. Those careless words start with careless listening. We justify what we listen to and even convince ourselves wholeheartedly that it's good.
Take care of what you listen to.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
(C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.
A corporation not for profit.
La Habra, CA All rights reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment