Luke 8:16-18 (ESV) “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. 18Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”
Many quote the first part of this parable, but verse 18 has the word “Therefore,” which ties together hiding our light with how we hear.
With constant exposure to wrong doctrines, strongholds of wrong thinking and wrong believing will increase (we get more added), and our light gets progressively hidden. (what we seem to have, is taken away) No one intentionally does this; it comes from the enemy’s deception and catering to selfish desires and itchy ears.
We must all ask ourselves this question; What are the primary ways that we learn about God and His word? Through the teachings of others (leavened bread) or through reading and listening to the Bible for ourselves? (unleavened bread)
Only by the sharpness of the living word can we rightly discern and divide the truth. If we avoid the portions of God’s word that cut, pierce, and prunes us, we quickly slip into error and deception. Our light gets hidden, and our witness to the world is compromised.
Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Many would say, “It is hard to read the Bible, hard to understand.” I would say to those people, walking and talking were challenging too, until you learned how to do it. Now it comes naturally.
Our leaders cannot walk or talk for us. Neither can they feed us anything more than leavened bread. We need the unleavened bread and the sincere milk of God’s word, and we must learn to feed ourselves.
The interesting thing about spiritual hunger is that it comes from feeding, not starving. The more we give ourselves to reading the word, the more we will enjoy it and desire it.
1 Peter 2:2 (ESV) As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
Notice that Peter said, “As newborn babes?” He isn’t pointing out baby Christians; he is saying that our hunger and desire for the word of God should be like an infant that cries for life-giving milk every few hours. Mature and immature Christians alike.
Ask yourself, “what am I hungry for? Am I hungry for God and His word, or the latest preaching and teaching from my favorite ministers?” They are not even close to being the same.
If a minister reads the scriptures alone, you feed on the unleavened bread of truth. As soon as the minister explains and expounds on that truth, you are eating leavened bread, filtered through a vessel with two opposing natures.
I am not saying we don’t need ministers to help us rightly divide the truth. I am saying that we should be mindful not to make it our primary source.
Quoted from the book, The Spiritual Warfare Manifesto
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