Use It or Lose It

“‘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 he has will be taken from him’ Mark 4:24.

When I was a little girl I took piano for four years or so.  I remember the amazement whenever my fingers actually formed a song.  It was hard work and my hands had to grow into the more challenging arrangements.  After much practice and patience I was able to play some fairly nice pieces of music.  But I became lazy in my practice and bored in my pursuit of continuing in that discipline.  As a result at best I can only play two or three songs.  Although I knew how to play the piano, the measure of time I invested in practice was all but nonexistent, thereby losing what I had learned. 

Jesus was a man who knew the critical importance of practicing everything His Father had shown Him.  He walked this earth with Micah 6:8 tucked passionately in His heart. ‘He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’  I wanted to know what these requirements looked like today so we will have no doubt what these measurements are.  I know this is a lot of reading but you will be blessed to understand what it is that we are being held accountable to attain. 

“To walk justly would mean to act with God’s standards for right and wrong in view. It would mean that you wouldn’t take action if what you were about to do would be contrary to God’s direction.  Loving mercy means loving the opportunity to extend that same mercy to others. It means choosing mercy when people annoy you, frustrate you, hurt you, mistreat you and disregard you.  To walk humbly with our God is the best part. When you hit a stride where you think you have it all figured out, where you think you are doing really well with the previous two things, God wants you to remember who is in charge.” WordPress.com

 My commentary goes on and identifies the audience to whom this passage was directed.  ‘Those who have begun to understand and appropriate the truth of what Jesus is teaching will be granted fuller understanding in the future, but those who have failed to appropriate it will experience no benefit from it.’ NIV Study Bible, p. 1528.

We must avoid losing what we have learned due to spiritual laziness or pride.  We must put into practice everything that God shares with us or we will not grow in wisdom and intimacy with God.  Our passage even threatens that we will lose the wisdom and understanding given to us when we fail to apply it to our lives.  God’s word is not just reading material…it is meant to educate and activate!