Luke 8:16-20: in context

After teaching about the sower and the different soils, Jesus draws out a lesson about hearing. No one lights a lamp and hides it, he says, but sets it on a stand to give light; nothing hidden will fail to be revealed. And then a pointed word: be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away. How we hear God's word, Jesus says, matters greatly, and determines what we gain or lose.

Jesus' command, take heed how you hear, points to something we often overlook: the manner of our hearing matters, not just the fact of it. We can hear God's word carelessly, distractedly, without receptivity, without any intention to heed or act; or we can hear it attentively, receptively, with a heart ready to receive and obey. And Jesus says these make all the difference. To the one who hears well, receptively, and holds fast, more is given, more understanding, more fruit, more grace; while from the one who hears carelessly, even what he seemed to have is taken away. The quality of our hearing determines what we gain from God's word. This searches how we hear God's word. It is possible to hear the word regularly, and yet hear it poorly, carelessly, without receptivity, letting it wash over us without taking root, without any intention to heed it. And such hearing gains little, and may lose even what it seemed to have. But the one who hears with a good and honest heart, who receives the word, holds it fast, and acts on it, gains more and bears fruit. These, Jesus says of the good soil, are those who hear the word with an honest and good heart, hold it fast, and bear fruit with patience. The manner of our hearing, receptive or careless, determines the harvest. This calls us to take heed how we hear, not merely that we hear. We can attend to hearing God's word, in reading, in preaching, in Scripture, while giving little thought to how we hear it, whether we receive it attentively and with intent to obey, or hear it carelessly and let it slip away. Jesus' command is to take heed how we hear: to hear receptively, attentively, with a heart ready to receive and act, holding fast what we hear rather than letting it slip. Pay closer attention, Hebrews urges, to what we have heard, lest we drift away. This calls us to hear God's word well, with receptive and obedient hearts. Jesus says that how we hear determines what we gain, that the one who hears well is given more, while the careless hearer loses even what he thought he had. And we are called to take heed how we hear, to receive God's word attentively and with intent to obey, holding it fast rather than hearing it carelessly, so that we gain from it the understanding, fruit, and grace God gives to those who hear well, rather than losing even what we seemed to have through a careless hearing that lets the word slip away.

Do I hear God's word carelessly, distractedly, and without receptivity or intent to obey, letting it wash over me and slip away, or do I hear it attentively, with a heart ready to receive and act, and can Jesus' command, take heed how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, but from the careless hearer even what he thinks he has will be taken, move me to hear God's word well, receiving it attentively and holding it fast rather than letting it slip, so that I gain from it what God gives to those who hear well?