To hear or not to hear that is the question?

“You don't listen”. Have your ever been told that? Most of us have. I am sure we could all do better, especially when it comes to listening to God. Jesus had a lot to say about this. In Mark 4:24,25 He says “Consider carefully what you hear, with the measure you use, it will be measured to you―and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him”.

One of His concerns, of course, is about the negative things we allow ourselves to see and hear, what we allow our hearts and minds to feed on. Paul admonishes us to think on the good the pure and the noble etc. etc. (Philippians 4:8). As an aside, modern research is showing clearly the profound negative affects of negative thinking on our brain, and the profound positive effects of positive thinking on the same. The whole context of this chapter of Mark however, has to do with hearing the Word of God (the seed verse 14), and the emphasis of this section from Mark is about the impact of what we hear on our lives.

The parables of verses 24, 25 and 26-29 should, I believe, be taken together. In the parable we are considering here, he is talking about how we hear (the measure with which we hear). When we do this His way, the parable of verses 26-29 kicks in, and it tells us that the Word bears fruit automatically (verse 28A - all by itself in the NIV). So then when we do our part the Word germinates, grows and produces fruit in us (verse 28B).

This is good news for those of us who have, or have had out of control addictions. And perhaps these next few words are more related to the “becoming Oaks of righteousness” cornerstone of recovery. You see its not about striving, is it about hearing, it is about continuing in His Word (John 8:31 again), reading it, meditating on it (Psalm 1), proactively hearing it (this post), working the 12 steps (or similar), and then having done that, trusting God and His Word to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

To apply verses 24-25 to both this latter context, and the context of “Dealing with the deceptions ...” I want to paraphrase Jesus' words by saying there is a “use it or loose it” principle at work here. This is of course applicable to many of the things we hear, to receiving His promises, or for example, to seeing our sin the way that He sees our sin.

There are two wrong ways to deal with this last point, and both sides are dealt with in a single chapter in Hebrews 10. I suspect that at one level we all fall into one error or the other. I have at times, sat on both sides of the divide. The first wrong way, is to be overcome with guilt. I remember being on this side of the fence and hearing the Lord say to me “You are faithful”. I had an immediate “but” raise within me. 'But what about ...”. He told me “I don't remember that”. Could that possibly be Him? Well yes, He has told us that under the New Covenant “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17). When I see this, I have a choice. I can allow guilt about the failures of the past to define me, or I can believe that His Grace is greater than all my sin.

But with what measure am I hearing Him? God sees me as faithful. He saw David as faithful too, David who committed adultery and then murder in an attempt to cover it up. But “murderer” and “adulterer” was not what God saw after he repented. David was a "man after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22), and he did not allow those two words to define the rest of his life. David did reap the fruit of his sin, and we will reap the fruit of ours (Galatians 6:7). David sowed to the wind and he reaped the whirlwind (2 Samuel 11ff). But He was forgiven and restored to full fellowship with God.

To repeat a word from Bill Johnson “I cannot afford to have a thought in my head about me, that is not in God's head”. In His mind, I am faithful, I am a saint, I am the righteousness of Christ. Do I feel this way? Certainly not immediately after I have sinned . During periods of repentance I say with David “my sin is ever before me” and “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice” (Psalm 51:3,8). In true repentance we will for a while, feel crushed by our wickedness. There needs to be a time of godly sorrow which leads us through repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10), into the joy of our salvation (Psalm 51:12), so that we can be brought back to the place where we can come boldly before the throne of Grace to obtain mercy, and the help we need to live the Christian life (Hebrews 4:16).

The thief will want to short circuit this process. He will delight for us to get stuck in bone crushing guilt. Either that, or have us take our sin lightly (see below). When God tells me I am faithful, I need to receive that. So I tell myself “I am faithful”. If you try to do this, the accuser will say “You hypocrite, you are just pretending to be righteous, when in reality you are just piece of ...”. But I am not pretending, I am practicing. By saying “I am faithful” I am agreeing with God (always a good thing) and this practicing will empower me to be faithful. When the temptations come, I tell myself - “No, I am faithful, I am dead to sin and alive to righteousness” (Romans 6:11). Chip Judd (a preacher I was listening to) says “We need to tell ourselves such things until we believe them, and then we need to tell ourselves these things, because we believe them”. When we continue in His Word, and we speak His Words into our lives, then the Word germinates , takes root, grows and produces fruit automatically. The measure with which we do this, is the measure of its effectiveness in our lives.

But the repentance part is not optional. We need to take our sin seriously and we will need betimes to go through the process of repentance I have just described. You see the other wrong way to deal with our sin, is to treat it too lightly. It has to do with presumption “God will forgive me that is His job”, or just plain apathy “whatever”. As I mentioned Hebrews 10 deals with both errors. The writer quotes “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more, ” and that this gives us “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (verses 17 and 19). But we also need to remember what is cost Him to forgive our sins, and to treat them lightly or to “deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth” leaves us with “no more sacrifice for sins ... but only a fearful expectation of judgment” (verses 26,27).

I have cried out to Him at times, asking Him to grant me repentance (2 Timothy 2:25). Once again, this has to do with the measure with which we hear. In verse 39 we read “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved”. If we are reading, if we continue, then we will hear this, and we will indeed be of this company. But do you wonder if you are? It is like the unforgivable sin, if we are worried that we have committed it, we are moving in the right direction to not commit it. We do need to hear what He tells us. Hearing and obedience are closely linked. The good news is that we can start over right now, and with Paul “forget those things which are behind, and press on to the goal of the high calling in Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:3).