Luke 8: How Do You Hear?

This meditation centers in on one word: “How.” “Take heed how you hear,”  Jesus said. “How” is a common word, appearing 103 times in the New Testament. It is one of hundreds of words in this very chapter. It is part of a commandment to us to pay attention to “how” we listen to Jesus: “by what means” do we listen? It means that we must listen well when we listen. It applies to our attitudes as listeners. Do we listen to the Bible in humility, with a desire to learn and do the will of God, with a whole-hearted longing to understand and love the Lord God, with an appreciation of the fact that we have been given an opportunity to actually hear His word, and with the belief that He knows if we are taking heed to “how” we hear?