Hearing What We Want To Hear

I was reading through Luke 18 and came across these verses - very interesting to think about: Luke 18:31-34 NIV:

[31] "Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. [32] He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; [33] they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” [34] The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about."

I was just thinking how it is almost impossible to misunderstand Jesus' statement in the previous verses. The fact that the Apostles didn't understand what He was saying can only be attributed to one of two scenarios -1. The Holy Spirit was deadening their mind to the real meaning of Jesus' words. 2. They were only willing to hear what they wanted to hear.

Personally I think it was the latter, as we all do this to some extent. In my own life, their are certainly some areas of scripture that I either don't understand, or don't like reading. For example, one of those sections of scripture immediately precedes the verse above where Jesus tells the rich man to sell everything give to the poor. I just plain don't want to read those verses, and so I generally don't. The apostles were still believing that Jesus was going to somehow push the Romans out of power and take His throne here on earth, and anything other than that, it seems, they didn't want to hear.

This is a very dangerous stance, the of picking what we want to hear and believe. We believe the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of all scripture and ignoring or choosing to not believe some if it means we are limiting ourselves in understanding the full revelation of God. We may not understand the scriptures or the Father's heart in certain scriptures, but we must read them and try to understand, and pray for understanding. We need the totality of scripture, the whole Gospel, and we cannot leave out the parts we don't like or understand. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,...".

Peter also spoke about subject briefly in his second letter:

2 Peter 3:1, 16-18 NIV
[ of Paul] [16] He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

[17] Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. [18] But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

So, my encouragement today is to look to the Lord, to read all His word, and to discover His will for me. I desire the full message of Scripture to fill my life and will choose to not hear only what I want to hear.