Hearing and Doing

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

HEARING AND DOING

Luke 8:19-21

19 Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you." 21 He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice." 

NIV

Certainly, Jesus is not disrespecting his mother in his answer but is merely taking the opportunity to make a point. He is using this situation as a teaching moment. We must think that Jesus did at some point greet his mother and brothers even amidst the crowd of people surrounding him. The point Jesus was making is that to be part of the family of God we must first hear God’s word and then put it into practice. Now, here is where some might diverge in other directions regarding the meaning of “Put it into practice”. Some might say this means to do good work, to serve in some way so that we are doing everything the right way, following the rules and regulations they believe are scriptural. That may be what is putting into practice God’s word. But those things do not make us part of God’s family. To be in the family of God, to be a brother or sister to Jesus, to have him as our brother, and to be a child of God, is to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. As in any family structure, the father is the head of the family, and so our heavenly Father is the head of His family. Certainly, the Father has all authority in his family and so we should listen to Him and obey his voice. However, here again, we could become confused as to what obeying his voice looks like. We could get caught up in creating all sorts of deeds we think are the work that God requires of us, but the word of God is clear that the work that God requires of us is to believe in the one he sent, Jesus. Of course, out of our love for God, we want to be of service to Him and do what he says, and therein lies the problem. To serve Him, to do something to benefit the kingdom of God, we first must hear his voice, his calling us to a particular area of service. We can think that our human skills, what we are educated in, our learned talents, so to speak, would be how God uses us, but that is not always the case. If we are using our talents for God, then who gets the credit? But then God calls us to serve him outside any of our abilities, then He gets all the credit for our service. This is not to say God would not use our talents, He is still sovereign. The world functions by using our education, our degrees in whatever, and all our abilities, we list in our resumes to get a position. God may well function altogether differently by calling us to a place of service where we have no talent or ability, and He empowers us, with his gifts, to do that which he has determined where we are to best serve him. Then it is about hearing the voice of God and putting it into practice.