I wrote last week on the power of persistent observation. Then I came across this verse on the necessity for diligence:
Then he said to them, “Be diligent to understand the meaning behind everything you hear, for as you do, more understanding will be given to you. And according to the depth of your longing to understand, much more will be added to you. For those who listen with open hearts will receive more revelation. But those who don’t listen with open hearts will lose what little they think they have!” (Mark 4.24, 25, TPT)
This is exactly like mathematics. If you are not “diligent to understand the meaning behind everything you hear,” you won’t understand the next thing, and you’ll lose it all. If you do work to understand, your knowledge can build.
This reminds me of something I shared back in August 2019:
Way back in the 1920s, Bishop Roland Allen of the Anglican Church wrote a provocative book Missionary Methods, St Paul’s or Ours? One of the methods he decried was his tradition’s around-the-calendar schedule for teaching major concepts over a 3-year period. The problem, as he saw it, was that a concept would be introduced, and a couple of weeks later, the church would be on to something else with no regard as to whether the people understood anything. Bishop Allen said something like, “You wouldn’t experience that too many times before you conclude that if church leadership had wanted us to understand that concept, they would have spent more time on it. Since they don’t, people conclude that they’re not supposed to understand.” – From The Ewellogy, August 25, 2019
In light of Jesus’ words in Mark 4, we need to be careful not to rush through what God is teaching us or what God is teaching the people we’re discipling. (Maybe that says something about rushing through through-the-Bible-in-a-year reading plans!)
My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. – Proverbs 2.1 – 5, ESV)
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2.15, NASB)