Wednesday, July 19, 2017

An OPEN & SHUT Case

Wednesday, July 19, 2017
His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”  He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.  To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge.  But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.  That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see.  They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.  This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says,
‘When you hear what I say, you will not understand.
When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.
For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear,
and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.  I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it.  And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.  Matthew 13:10-17(NLT)
The disciples wondered about Jesus’ methods; why didn’t he just come out and tell the people all this important stuff plainly?  I know how the disciples felt; I can hardly stand it when someone plays catch me if you can with their words.  Just stop all the hinting and cryptic inferences…just say what you mean!!!
Now Jesus did not say the Kingdom was hidden, as if His whole purpose was tricking us into missing it.  He was teaching the disciples that attitude was everything.  God wants the heart – an open heart, more than he wants anything else you’ve got.  I imagine that’s because God knows if you give him your heart, everything else will come with it.
That was the whole point in a church strategy meeting I attended years ago.  The church had a bus ministry that carried kids to Sunday School.  It was an outreach ministry intended to build the church’s attendance.  The pastor presented the strategy as:  if we get the kids coming to church, their parents might eventually come too.  Someone spoke up with a question:  Pastor, why don’t we win the parents first?  If they come, the parents will bring the kids; and we won’t need those smelly busses!
Jesus used parables – stories that told the truth, but were only understandable if your heart was open to truth (so your ears and eyes could hold truth).  But the truth is we humans are really good at protecting what we want to hold onto, rather than trusting God to give us something that’s far better.  Jesus said understanding – really knowing the truth deep-down, is only available by trusting God.  And when you begin to trust, it becomes easier to trust; that’s what opens your ears and eyes to understanding.
When it comes to eyes seeing and ears hearing, it’s an open and shut case…of the heart.

For You Today

Want to know God’s will…really?  Open your heart first; your eyes and ears will follow!
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
NOTES

[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com

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