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Time Alone With God daily devotional: Mark 4:21-25
A Lamp on a Stand
21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”
24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
Read: Mark 4:21-25
Consider: Again we hear Jesus’ words, “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (4:24). But in this instance in Mark’s gospel, Jesus is speaking on a different subject. When Jesus made that statement in Matthew’s gospel (in the Sermon on the Mount), he was talking about judging and condemning others. But here in Mark, he is speaking about the gift that has been given to us and how we respond to it.
In this short parable about the lamp (and the parable that precedes it), Jesus is talking about the good news—the way of Christ—which will be revealed. What is often hidden“is meant to be disclosed” (4:22). The gospel will bear fruit, but will we allow that fruit to be borne through us?
N. T. Wright says that “Jesus seems to be telling his followers that the level to which they pay attention to what he’s teaching them will be the level at which they receive the benefits of the kingdom.”
This is not to say that we earn God’s grace. His grace is freely given. But Jesus is saying, “If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear” (4:23). Pay attention to what God is doing. And as you listen and immerse yourself in him—as your “measure” is your whole being—you will receive his measure, the measure of all the fullness of God.”(Ephesians 3:19).
The “fullness of God” must be what Jesus had in mind when he said, “and even more.”
“With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.” (4:24)
Pray: Ask the Lord to give you ears that hear, eyes that see and a heart that is given totally to him. |
June 27th, 2016 | 
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Posted in Time Alone With God