"But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.
For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have."
Luke 8:15-18
The first verse here is from the parable of the sower. It is the verse about the people who listen to God and do his will, and then the verses after which I think are continuing with that idea. God explains that if we want to do the right thing, we need to be honest, good, obedient, and patient, but also we need to show others who we are and what we believe, rather than hiding it.
A phrase that stands out to me is "take heed therefore how ye hear." Which perhaps means, be careful how you interpret what I say. And I think that we do that a lot, justifying ourselves in doing "a little bit" of bad, or applying my lessons to other people rather than ourselves. If we want to be the good ground and to avoid decieving ourselves into only "seeming" to have something, but not really having anything, then we need to interpret God's word with that "honest and good heart" that he mentioned, and build up a true testimony, not just go through the motions or give the appearance of faith, but honestly really find some by opening ourselves up to that spiritual discovery and find a way to communicate with God.
Today, let's work on being good ground for the planting, and on hearing well.
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