Heeding and Receiving More

Jesus taught His disciples in Mark 4:23-25:  "Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. ²⁵ For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."  This teaching is affirmed in a parable Jesus told of a master who delivered talents to his servants according to their ability, and while he was away two of his servants doubled the amount given while the lazy, wicked servant buried his talent in the ground.  It was given to the servant who had 10 talents, and it is wise management of resources to take away the talent from the lazy servant and give it to the one who had been faithful.

In this passage, Jesus taught those who hear Him--and the implication is to heed all He says--will be given more from Him.  Those who do not listen, however, what he has will be taken away from him.  In discussing this recently, I was reminded of an experience I had in a trade as an illustration of this principle.  When I ran a small crew on a jobsite, a new apprentice was sent to work who was the son of a current foreman in our shop.  He was young, arrogant and acted like he knew everything despite having no practical experience.  As a pre-apprentice I was taught the most important qualities for an apprentice was to arrive early, have a good attitude, and do what you were told.  I don't believe any of these had sunk in with this lad.

I took the apprentice to a wide open area of duct with the intention of giving him a little demonstration with tips that would help him.  I showed him the rolls of duct wrap, wire and tape.  He was bored with everything I said, assuming he knew what to do because his dad was a duct-wrapping legend.  I decided since this punk already knew everything, there was no use wasting my breath on giving him pointers and tips.  What followed was 30 minutes of tradie hilarity at his expense.  As I slammed on material like a well-oiled machine, from across the room I watched him struggle and fumble with the most basic things.  His wire was a tangled mess, his pieces of duct wrap insulation were hacked crooked with a dull knife, and because he did not consider the thickness of the material all the pieces were cut too short and wasted.

Finally, having been soundly beaten by his failure to successfully install one piece of insulation, he sheepishly came over and asked for help.  That's what I had been waiting for.  He was far more receptive to instruction the second time, and I showed him exactly what to do.  Whenever I had an apprentice who was eager to learn and put into practice my directives, I was much more apt to give more pointers, tricks and opportunities to do better work.  These quality apprentices were groomed to do finish work with an aim to retain them throughout their apprenticeship, continue to develop as journeyman and even run work as a foreman.  But lazy, late and arrogant apprentices would not be working for a local shop very long.  Journeymen were not interested to teach apprentices a valued skill who had no intention to learn.  Before long, even the job they had would be taken away.

My interaction with my apprentice illustrates how God speaks of the true riches of His kingdom in the Bible, He will be more inclined to say more to those who listen and are faithful to obey.  If we will not waste our words on those who are bored by them and will not obey them, should God do differently if we are bored by Him?  Those who value and treasure God and all He has to say will be given more from His word to understand.  God did this concerning Abraham in Genesis 18:17-19:  "And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸ since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."  God went on to converse with Abraham who believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness.  His faith in God was shown by his works, and the wise will walk humbly in his steps with our Saviour Jesus.

If we heed God much, more wisdom and responsibility will be given us from Him.  However if we refuse to heed what God has said, we ought not to expect to hear much from Him.  Our peace, joy and rest can be taken from us by circumstances of life.  The arrogant apprentice did one thing admirable that day worthy of emulation:  he humbled himself and came to me and asked for help.  If we are struggling and realise we need God's help, let us be those who come to Him humbly with intent to do all He says.