parables

So, I am headed to lunch yesterday, enjoying the beautiful weather and the company with which I was traveling. We were dissecting what had happened at church and praying over those things together. (yes, I pray with my eyes open when I drive!) The conversation actually was about whether we would all leave and continue business as usual or whether there would be change in our lives. It seems I am growing weary of the knowledge that we spout without change in how we live and certainly did not want another Sunday where the truth went forth and left us unchanged. I find that I am continually asking MYSELF how these things should change how I walk and live, in addition to asking if I am guilty and need to repent of the things that have been brought to light. For too long, ALL OF US have listened to truth declared and agreed with it, while thinking it did not apply to us or that it was meant for someone else. I have been guilty of such thinking, however, the Lord has changed my heart and is making the cry of my heart that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be true of my feet. So, I was spending time, evaluating my own heart and then found myself realizing that I can't be the only one that struggles with such things. I believe that many of us can walk away and say that was great....that really needed to be said...without evaluating our own hearts to see if it was aimed at us-instead we agree, but do nothing and somehow don't even see that it was all about US.
I have come to a place where my first instinct is beginning to be....is this true of me and what do I need to do to repent and get right before the Father-before I begin to pray over the others in the room that need to hear these things as well. In dealing with my heart issues in this way, I have stumbled across a truth that has caused me to wrestle with why so many hear truth and do not respond or don't seem to be pierced by it.
For years, I have thought that the reason Jesus spoke in parables was to illustrate so that others might better understand His teaching. Yet, recently it has come to my attention that this is not necessarily true. In fact, it is the exact opposite. Jesus makes it plain that the reason he speaks in parables was to make it hard for people to understand, that those who truly WANT to know the truth and are pursurers of it will indeed chase after it. For those who are not really interested, it will pass them by and they will never even know what they missed.

Mark 4:1-12
1 And He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very great multitude gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,
9 And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10 And as soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, {began} asking Him {about} the parables.
11 And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God; but those who are outside get everything in parables,
12 in order that while seeing, they may see and not perceive; and while hearing, they may hear and not understand lest they return and be forgiven."

Did you see that? To those outside the Kingdom, they get everything in parables-that while seeing, they don't really see or perceive. It doesn't pierce them. While hearing, they do not hear or understand, or else they would return from their wicked ways and be forgiven. But they don't return. He who has ears, let him hear!
Jesus doesn't teach in parables to make it easier, but to weed out those who are not really hearing and seeing. He is NOT trying to make it easier, make it more understandable. He is trying to make it hard...so that those who TRULY want more of Him will chase after Him. Jesus is not for the faint of heart or for those who are looking for an easy gospel. Jesus wanted his followers to know that there are no short cuts, no easy ways in the Kingdom.

Sometimes I think we are just like those outside the Kingdom....we don't see the forest for the trees. We think it is cool to see change in others, while not realizing we need it in ourselves. I don't say that lightly. I am sure there are those who think that about me-always speaking and never looking at myself. But that is not true. I do not speak or teach anything that I have not sorted through with Jesus first and have spent time confessing and crying out for Him to change it in me before I challenge people with it. And though I am in process like everyone else, I am quickly coming to a place where I must first deal with ME-otherwise I invalidate the gospel with how I live. Which means, I am spending a lot of time asking Jesus to reveal in me His truth and change me from the inside out.

However, one of my greatest fear is that we would be in the presence of truth and walk away unchanged out of a careless neglect to look at our own hearts. That we would be like the people of Jesus' day....it would be nothing more than a parable to us and we would miss the teaching and the depth behind it. Why? because we are not in the Kingdom. We see, but do not perceive. We listen, but do not hear or understand and are not forgiven.
I guess I walked away from church with a prayer in my heart for myself and for those who were there....this could be just another parable Sunday. Another Sunday, where we think the message was good and what needed to be said was said, but we do not see or hear the truth that was aimed our own hearts.
God give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.....and please don't let these things just be another parable in which many miss the point of application for EACH of us. Call us to repent, change, worship and confess. Don't leave us unchanged or unaffected. May God open our hearts to truth that we might look in the mirror and see how it applies to ME.

Matt 13:15-16
15 For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I should heal them.'
16 "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.ALL FOR YOU