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Luke 8:16-18

¹⁶"No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. ¹⁷For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. ¹⁸Therefore 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."

What do you have? You only have what you have received. You receive physical things and spiritual gifts. The physical will perish; the spiritual will last. The physical does not transform the soul; the spiritual does.

How do you receive the spiritual? It is usually through your ears. In Jesus' day, when many could not read or afford to purchase a manuscript, it was almost entirely through the ears. What do you hear?

Many of us are familiar with this illustration as it is used in Matthew, or in the song "This Little Light of Mine." Those illustrations are about boldly letting the witness of Jesus in you be seen by others. Others will see whatever you listen to and absorb. You can't hide what you have become. Listening transforms you for better or worse. The words go into your mind and heart and affect the way you see the world around you. Cults can transform a person's perspective by merely isolating them from other points of view so that they hear only a distortion of the truth. That is why Jesus says, "Consider carefully how you listen." He is telling us to consider not only what we listen to, but also how we listen. Do we listen with discernment? Are we sorting through what we hear to discard what is not according to God's Word and clinging to that which is of value? Do we sort the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error? That is not to criticize, but to discern what we will receive.

Why should we take such caution? Jesus is telling us that if we receive what is good, we will receive more of the same. Our light will be visible to all. If we receive vain words, what we have believed to be of substance will prove to be emptiness. People will see our lack of substance.

Consider: What do you listen to? Consider carefully how you hear.