“To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”
I ask you to read that again right now, and let it sink in. When we listen, we should be able to reiterate what was said. So often we think we are listening when in fact we have no idea what was said. We all struggle with this in some manner; if it's with our wife or kids, friends or co-workers, we don't do it on purpose most of the times, sometimes it is because we want to hear only what we want to hear. Jesus says, 'to those who listen to my teaching...' We have the opportunity to read His teachings everyday, what is keeping you from doing it? When we do we will get an abundance of knowledge. This is how we grow and become more like Christ or Christlike (a Christian). When we "listen" we will be driven to do and when we do people see love and that love makes a difference.
Keith Hudson preach this weekend about not just being lookers but being people who see. He shared this; "You won't walk in faith if you are a looker." When we only look we let fear keeps us from being who God made us to be. This is true when we hear and do not listen. Listening takes us letting what we read "take root in our heart, be cultivated, and permitted to bear fruit." (Warren Weirsbe) We need to open our eyes to see and our ears listen so we will understand that love opens the door for people to accept Jesus, not pointing fingers and being judgmental.
Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 13 verse 23, "The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted." We can't do nothing and think we will receive knowledge abundantly, we must listen, and ask God to open our ears and truly hear what He is saying so we can show His love to the world. Amen