God’s Word for You

Luke 8:18 consider carefully how you listen

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, March 13, 2018

18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

I beg you to read this passage as yourself. By that I mean, don’t assume that Jesus our Lord is speaking to anyone in the world except you. Consider carefully how you listen—you, who live your life the way you do, who respond to your loved ones the way you do, who show your faith the way you do. You, consider carefully how you listen to God’s holy word.

Do you listen to it with skepticism? Do you listen to it thinking, this isn’t really about me, and it doesn’t really affect me? Or do you listen thinking, this is all about me? God is speaking to you about your life and about your faith.

For those who have been reading this chapter from the beginning, we are led to think: I am the soil into which my Lord sows his seed. I am the lamp lit by my Lord. Am I growing? Am I shining? I have listened—I have been given much. Am I one to whom the Lord will want to give more, or am I one from whom the Lord will want to take something away? Or to put it so much more simply: Do I love Jesus? Is Jesus my Rescuer, my Savior, my Master, my Shepherd?

Remember that he’s all of these things. Remember that he is the Rescuer who grabbed you out of your sins.

Remember that he’s the Savior who snatched you from the grave and even from the prison of hell.

Remember that he’s the Master whom you honor and follow out of love because of what he did for you.

Remember that he’s the Shepherd who always knows where you are. Sometimes he’s been justified in being confident in and pleased with your faith, and sometimes he’s left the ninety-nine to go looking for you. But he loves you. Jesus loves you! Cherish this, and cherish Jesus your Lord.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

Browse Devotion Archive