Have
you ever been in a conversation in which someone tells and inside joke and
you’re on the outside? The others laugh
while you stand there confused. God’s
Word is kind of like that.
A
person cannot rightly understand the Word from the outside. Jesus said, “To you it has been given to know
the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that
seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”
How
one hears the Word of God makes all the difference in the world. Jesus exhorts us, “He who has ears to hear,
let him hear.” That means that some do
not have ears to hear. Some will reject
God’s Word, put their ideas above it, or even try to discredit it. Paul says it this way, “The man without the
Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are
spiritually discerned.” (1Corinthians
2:14 NIV)
As
Christians we take Jesus’ words very seriously, “Take care then how you hear,
for to the one who has more will be given, and from the one who has not, even
what he thinks he has will be taken away.”
We want to hear and receive God’s Word in faith. The good news is that we can be confident
that we do this because of what God has done for us. In baptism God washed our sins away and gave
us the gift of the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit is at work in us much like a person blowing on an ember to fan it into
flame. Through the Word and Sacraments
He fuels and tends our faith and enlightens us to hear, understand, and receive
God’s gifts of love, forgiveness, peace, salvation, wisdom, etc.
Not
that we receive these things perfectly.
Our sinful nature still resists the Spirit and works against our faith,
but God is faithful and will bring us to the fullness of faith in Christ.
Lord,
I believe! Overcome my unbelief by your
Word and make me a light to draw others to you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
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