"TAKE HEED THEREFORE HOW YE HEAR"!!!

Luke 8:16-18   (GNV)
"16 No man when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it under a vessel, neither putteth it under the bed, but setteth it on a candlestick, that they that enter in, may see the light.
17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be evident: neither anything hid, that shall not be known, and come to light.
18 TAKE HEED THEREFORE HOW YE HEAR: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given: and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which it seemeth that he hath."


Though I can find no scripture that says it verbatim, "The Lord DOES work in mysterious ways"!  Isaiah 55:8-9* comes to mind first.  This morning, while eating breakfast in a motel, the television was set on a channel where the news media was reacting with an almost disbelief that the public has been led down a path of deceit and cover-up for almost two years regarding events in the Middle East, mainly Benghazi, Libya.

My honest intent is to be apolitical, so the only "SIDE" I am taking is the side JESUS speaks of!  "TAKE HEED THEREFORE HOW YE HEAR" has never 'clicked' until this morning for me.  When JESUS is speaking here HE is telling us that "No man" lights a candle and then hides the light.  Conversely, no one wants to talk about his or her failures.  I know I would rather reminisce about my victories rather than wallow in my defeats.

JESUS warned us to "TAKE HEED THEREFORE HOW YE HEAR" as HE knew that 'deceit' would be dressed up as 'TRUTH' and we would have to discern the good from the bad. HE tells us that the ones who has will be given more!  One commentary puts it this way, "The person who gives himself to know the TRUTH will know the TRUTH and he will be given more TRUTH. The person who does not give himself to know the TRUTH will lose everything."  In the book of John, chapter 14 verse 6, JESUS says "I am that Way, and that "TRUTH", and that Life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

When I was very young we were taught a song.  It went "Be careful little ears what you hear"!  The enemy can creep into our lives in vail a secrecy that appears so innocent.  I find it no coincidence that JESUS that JESUS forewarned us not only to take heed what we hear, but to "TAKE HEED THEREFORE HOW YE HEAR"!!!


*Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts."