Let’s get back to a study of the Red Letter to learn how we are to live.

 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?  For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued.”With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.  Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

Mark 4:21-26

I think I have made it clear that I consider the Gospel of Mark to be the most informative of all the ones in the Bible. Perhaps because it was the first one, I believe it to be truer to the fundamental messages of Jesus.  The fourth chapter is pretty much about Jesus telling us how to behave as his followers.

He tells us that the light of God that is found among his followers is not meant to be just a self-fulfilling thing. It is meant to be displayed to all in the world. It is meant for everyone to see. It is meant for everyone to hear. One of the saddest consequences of this modern-age is that Christians cannot be distinguished from those around them. They no longer seem to have the light of God in them as the early Christians. Or maybe, against Jesus’ commands here, they choose to keep that light hidden within themselves.

In these verses Jesus tells us to carefully hear what he has to say. His words about how we are to live our lives should always be front and center.  He says that if you listen to what he says and then go off and ignore it there will be consequences. He doesn’t spell out those consequences so I really don’t know what they are but I am sure there will be consequences.