Mark 4:24-25 – Be perceptive

There is no denial that responding to a message is critical. This makes it important for us to be careful what we hear. So in verse 24 the Lord gave a warning, “Take care what you listen to.” This suggests two things: choose the right things to hear and pay attention to what you hear.

In our days and age where we are assailed with all kinds of material from the internet to the public meetings, this warning must be vigorously heeded. Don’t look for entertainment in sermons. Let’s not be mistaken. Eloquent preaching, devoid of any spiritual content or significance, is not a good message. Develop the habit of focusing on the truth and not the preacher. The importance of the Lord’s warning here, to take care of what we hear, can bear repetition.    

Then there is also a call to pay attention to the content one hears. This suggests that the more we appropriately respond to what we hear the more we will be enabled to receive more. Mark alone added the phrase, “…to him more shall be given.” With that he then went on to say that if a hearer does not respond to what he has heard, he runs into the risk of not being able to receive more. This is the good old use-it-or-lose-it principle. Responsive hearers will always ensure a rich stream of truth, whereas an unresponsive hearer, in due time, will hear nothing at all.  

Here, Christ gives us both a warning as well as an encouragement. He calls us to be alert to what we hear, for lazy and indifferent hearers will soon find the stream of truths depleted. The encouragement is in the form of a promise that we will obtain more when we hear, receive and respond rightly. So let us be perceptive and hear, receive and respond!