By tomorrow, I will start preaching on parables about the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew 13. Parables are simple stories used by Jesus Christ to describe the Kingdom of Heaven to his listeners and to teach them different kinds of lessons. However, not all parables were explained by our Lord Jesus Christ.
For this, we will need to know exactly the first few steps in understanding parables. What others don’t realize is that, Jesus himself taught these things.
Remove the callous of the heart (v.15)
Callous is the hardened and thickened part of the skin. It is a part of the defense mechanism of our body from further damages. This normally develops in the part where the skin is frequently exposed to friction. Our feet is the prime example where we can find callous. Our hands can also have some callous especially if you are a hard worker.
It does prevent you from experiencing pain, but at the same time it also prevents you from being sensitive. There are certain parts of the body where callous is helpful to develop, like the feet and hands.
However, in the passage Matthew is talking about the spiritual callousness of the heart. And this is the kind of callous that we do not want to develop because it does not do anything good to our spiritual life but the loss of spiritual sensitivity.
A person who have a callous heart is a person who have loss its spiritual sensitivity. Here are some of the symptoms of a callous heart:
- Loss of discernment.
- Loss of appetite in worship.
- Forgetfulness to pray.
- Loss of appetite to read the word of God.
- Uncontrolled unrighteousness.
There are many other things that you will see in a callous heart. If not cured, this will cause further complications in your spiritual life.
Uncover the ears (v.15)
We use our ears to listen to the sound. Through it, we learn and hear the word of God. In our daily lives we use the ears in many ways. Without it, we have the difficulty to communicate.
Bats, can give us a primary example of how important our ears are. The bats have eyes but it is blurd and because it does not do so much good for his sight, he uses ears to find his ways and identify the right paths.
Without our spiritual ears, we are also running blind in our spiritual walk. What God wants us to do is to uncover our ears. Many people though have heard what God said, did not listened to it as if it they ears have a covering that limits them to hear. But what God wants is for us to hear his words and do what it says.
Open the eyes (v.15)
Another important part of the our spiritual body is our spiritual eyes. In the literal eyes, it is hard for us to find our way if we do not have our eyes. Maybe our ears can help us direct us to find our way, but it is not as good as if we have fine eyes.
A blind will always move slow. They can still find the way but it will really be very difficult for him to do that. This is why it is very important that we need to take care of our eyes because they are like a lamp to our path.
In spiritual realms, there are lots of people who cover their eyes. And because of that it is hard for them to find themselves in the paths of righteousness. Likewise, it is hard for them to see what the teachings of Jesus is all about. We can only understand the things in the Bible if our spiritual eyes are open.
