MEASURED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Consider carefully what you hear,” He continued.

“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 they have will be taken from them.”

Mark 4:24-25

"Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”

Luke 8:18 

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I have been closely following the Gospel of Matthew since the spring and have advanced to the place where Jesus is ready to make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. During that time, I have written synoptically where possible, simply meaning that if there was a parallel passage in any of the other Gospels, I would cover the passage using all accounts instead of just one.

Given this, there are some passages that are not synoptic in nature within the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John so before I go any further, I’m going to back track and cover these passages until I reach the point where Jesus enters Israel’s capital for His last week before fulfilling His destiny on Calvary’s cross in the other Gospels.

Today, we look at a teaching of Jesus that reminds us that the way we seek, find, comprehend, and use the wisdom He offers is assessed, gauged, and calculated with allocations made in accordance with the results. Look again at His words from the Gospel of Mark:

“Consider carefully what you hear,” He continued.

“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 they have will be taken from them.”  Mark 4:24-25

In this passage, we find Jesus teaching a crowd that was so large that He needed to push away from shore in a boat to teach them. As He addressed them, he said:

“Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.”

Jesus is getting at the matter of listening to His teaching and the teaching of others who were talking about God’s word and His will for His people. The measure by which any person applies the spiritual wisdom they gain from godly instruction and the illumination of that word by the Holy Spirit will be assessed by God and He will allot more wisdom accordingly, even more than a person had first gained. As long as a person continues to hunger and thirst for the guidance and direction of the Lord, He will never leave them void. Rather, He will always fill them and leave them blessed. Jesus said so Himself as He shared the Beatitudes:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” Matthew 5:6

I know I can attest to the truth found in these words and am so grateful the Lord never stops imparting His knowledge and insight to me as I study, write, and teach from His word daily. I pray you are having a like experience.

Now this would have been a great piece of training on its own without anything else added but as we see, Jesus did have one more thing to add:

“Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

No one will be perfectly educated on everything about God. Not about His word, not about His ways, not about His expectations. There is always room for improvement and the Lord expects us to ever be seeking it. When we gladly receive and utilize the schooling God provides, then He will give us even more. As stated earlier, He will continue to fill us over and over and over again to a place of daily spiritual satisfaction and fulfillment.

Conversely, those who choose to not receive God’s wisdom, those who show no interest in Him or reaching any understanding of Him and how their lives relate, will see whatever spiritual sense they do have removed from them. I they make no place for the Lord in their lives, then He will make no room for His wisdom to dwell within them.

Jesus wanted His listeners, then and now, to know that they all would be measured in regard to how they seek, listen, and act on the instruction the Lord wanted to impart by His word and Spirit. That measurement and associated assessment would dictate (and still dictates) how God proceeds in the allocation of His wisdom to His people. My prayer is that you have showed a desire and appetite for understanding the Lord’s word, will, and way so that He will always fill you to the place where you feel blessed through every day He gives.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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