Luke 8:18 Take heed therefore how you hear: for whoever has, to him shall be given; and whoever has not… "I reckon that's very much o' what the Lord Jesus meant when He said, 'Take heed how ye hear.' Whatever it means, an' whatever it don't mean, it means this plain enough — Don't hear anyhow. You see that was the way with the ground that didn't prosper — it took the seed all anyhow. There was the wayside; it let the seed come just as it could, and o' course it all got trodden under foot, or was eaten up by the fowls, an' not a grain was left. An' then I daresay Brother Wayside went complainin' that he couldn't get any good under that preacher. There was the weedy ground, too, let it fall in anyhow among the thorns an' thistles, an' they grew up an' choked it. An' I shouldn't wonder but Sister Weedy-ground whispered to Brother Wayside very piously, that for her part she did wish they had a preacher that would stir them up. Then there was Mister Stoney-ground, who liked it very much, an' nodded to everybody over the nice sermon, but when the sun was up, that is, when dinner-time came, he could hardly remember the text. They all heard: but they were anyhow hearers. But there was dear old Father Good-ground, whenever he heard the Word it got in an' went down, an' took root, an' sprang up, an' bare fruit, an' brought forth a hundred-fold; such wonderful crops o' love, an' joy, an' peace, that set all the folks a scratchin' their heads however he could manage it! Yet it was no such great secret; he got ready beforehand, that was all. He prepared for the seed. He'd have been weedy-ground, too, only he had been down on his knees, an' pulled up the chokin' cares an' Saturday's worries; he had picked out the stones, an' had ploughed up the field, an' had given the seed a chance, that was all, an' so he got a harvest. You see there was the same sower, an' the same seed, an' yet it was only the ground that was got ready beforehand that got any good." — (From "Daniel Quorra.") Parallel Verses KJV: Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. |
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