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It’s supposed to be an obvious lesson… but it’s not. Jesus’ metaphor about our ability to be self-aware, and to make the necessary interior adjustments to how we comprehend everything, is supposed to guide us to evolve from seeds sown on the path to those sown in good soil. His metaphor opens up a spiritual reality that is offered in grace to everyone, but ends up potentiating the benefit only for those who “blepo”–look, see, pay attention, notice, become aware. Jesus’ uses the same word to admonish us that this kind of focus on women indicates that adultery has already taken place within our inner selves (Matthew 5:28)

[transliterated from Greek]

“Then He said to them, ‘Does not the lamp happen to be that it is placed under the container or under the bed? Is it not that it is placed on a lampstand? Because nothing is hidden except that it will be revealed and nothing became secret but that it will come in the open. If someone has ears to hear, let him listen. Then He said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear. By which measure you apportion, it will be apportioned to you, even it will be added to you, because the one who has, to him will be given and the one who does not have, even what he has, it will be taken away.” (Mark 4:21-25)

Until I understood this truth, I lived in multiple forms of poverty and struggle. The suffering in our world corresponds to the basket covering the Light of God’s Truth graced to all humanity. The design is that the Light (overpowering influence) is to be propped up and uncovered so it can spread to the benefit of ourselves and others. Yes, Jesus is the “Light of the World”, but propping Him has become an evangelical trope to which very few moderns can relate. So let me put frame it for you this way.

Our political landscape is a polemic that traps the superficial. Both sides divide us into “have’s and have not’s” and label us as oppressed or oppressors based on income or opportunities. This might shock you, but there is no such thing as income inequality. Talent, opportunity, or intelligence inequality does exist, but politics rejects this obvious gap in business, while embracing this “unfairness” in sports. Still, talent, opportunity, and intelligence are NOT what ultimately create the rift between us.

This passage reveals the real gap preventing our success in life, but once you see it, you cannot unsee it other than to put your light under a basket. I will warn you, this passage ends everyone’s ‘victim’ status.

May I ask?

1. Do you have health problems that are derived by lifestyle choices? Do you work out as you should?
2. Do you live within a budget?
3. Do you dress to be comfortable or to present yourself the best that you can?
4. Do you invest in coaching, or personal development?
5. If someone audited every hour of your day, would they say you used your time well?
6. How often do you practice selflessness, compassion & conscientiousness?
7. Do you ever feel like “those people” have it easy? Or like life is opposing everything you try? That’s actually a delusion…a gap from reality.

These questions “lift the basket” off of the areas of our life where we compare ourselves to the success of others and reveal where the basket remains. These are my reflections on how Jesus’ teaching helps us to see reality.

1. The gap between success in life and those who “can’t catch a break” is a beautiful design of wisdom, not evidence of a broken system. The gap exists between those who “know” and those who “don’t know” or “won’t do.” The gap ALWAYS correlates to the apprehension and application of the truth, thus every problem is a Truth problem. The obvious success (bible calls this blessing) of those possessing the Truth is to make the path forward obvious to those who don’t posses enough of the truth or who ignore it. The gap exists to reveal our need for growth, and the difficulty in closing the gap reveals the growth required.

2. The gap cannot be closed by political, social, military, religious, economic or any external forces. Yes, gaps exist in social classes, religious freedom, and economic/political/religious power, but only based upon the principle cause which I will share. In every strata of human existence, those who have (this principle cause) always gain more, while those who lack or forfeit it.. live in perpetual struggle, set backs, and loss. “Pay attention to what you hear.”

3. If we fail to perceive this gap as an internal truth, we will spend our lives trying to fix it with external systems and comforts, even blaming systems for our own failure. The light shines equally upon all of us first. If we blame or hate, we live in darkness and cover our lamp.

The wisdom is this: “Pay attention to how you pay attention.” Until we become self-aware, we struggle and fail at nearly everything. Once we begin to become self aware, our flywheel begins to spin. A little self-awareness opens up more self-awareness and skill at life is gained. To quote John Calvin, ““Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.“ In other words, we cannot know ourselves without knowing God who has made us, and we cannot come to know God without coming to know ourselves as He made us.

Most people live in self-delusion. We think we know ourselves, but we actually don’t. What we know is the surface level self, the self who gets offended, who is tribal, and lives in a world of binaries, judgements, and tiny assumptions. The false (unknown) self is always certain, rarely has a question, and has an inner self consumed with competition. Self awareness, the light of God, will gradually change all that. This Light, when applied to the lamp stand of your life, shows us why we are addicted, why we’re fixated on our pain, why we second guess ourselves, and distrust everything. This Light reveals the causes of our deeper anxieties, fears, repressions, and why we fail not just despite ourselves but because of ourselves. God does this for every soul who will “hear” and success is NOT cutting the line when gaps exist before us. Success is to be fully here now.

This truth is fully testable within minutes. To the degree we “hear” and apply, to the same degree our life moves into conformity to the Truth. If we reject, despise, avoid, or deny the truth of God (His light) in self reflection, to the same degree our life will be plundered and lost. God’s truth is not exclusively gained religiously. All truth is God’s truth. While our faith provides a framework to hold and work out truth, it is not the only container for it. Instead every particle in the universe reveals God’s Truth, but we prefer to reject this as unscientific.

Let’s test this immediately. Back to my initial questions. How did you do? Where were you deficient? Success isn’t being the best, it’s being better than you were yesterday. Today is the gift of grace to embrace the Truth and reflect and try again. This is why politics cannot save us. When we truly are willing to look at ourselves and change, God is discovered in the details.

Placing our lamp under a basket is how we suppress the truth of everything. The basket wins if we have excuses, judgments, jealousy, and hatred. Our unhelpful appetites test our self-awareness. If we always yield, we are not self aware. Since “paying attention to how we pay attention” is an inside job, there is literally no scenario in life where this flywheel principle cannot apply. Each of us is equally free to move toward the Light of God. We can each equally pay attention to the Kingdom inside of us. That means we all get an equal opportunity to live in truth, to be real. The results are true success, the success of knowing oneself and God, not the world’s measure of success, which leaves us unknown by God and ourselves.

Christ’s wisdom is an invitation into the light of God’s truth, by way of looking honestly at ourselves. The life we live today is the correlates to the self-awareness we possessed yesterday. Today is the grace to not squander any more of our life in falsehood.

Socrates said: “The unexamined life isn’t worth living.” And there is no doubt that Jesus’ wholeheartedly agrees, because He would say “the unexamined life can never be real.”