Picking and Choosing
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” ~ 2 Tim 3:16-17 (ESV)
We own an old, blind dog. Although his sight is gone, he knows where his food bowl (he sometimes steps in it) and water supply is. The funny thing is he picks and chooses his food. Believe it or not, but the potatoes and carrots fly across the room every time he eats. It is really annoying, because I have to sweep up the discarded food every day (and have to pay for the fillers that our dog does not eat). Even when the meaty part is all gone, the veggies are left in the bowl (or floor)…
As I was watching Bandit the other morning, flinging potatoes and carrots across the room, I was reminded that we sometimes pick and chose Scripture. We discard some Scripture passages, saying they are ‘not modern enough’ or ‘they were only fitting ‘in old times”…
I am the first to admit that I have had passages to process that I did not ‘feel comfortable’ with. For the longest time I really had to swallow hard when I read Eph 5:22 (ESV). I kept saying: ‘Lord, are you serious? You want me to submit to my husband?’…
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I always loved my husband, but submitting? Humph…Yes, on this passage I had to chew a long time to really get it, pray, digest, pray, struggle with, pray.
You see, we often pick and choose Scripture passages that ‘fit into our life-style’. We can not do that. As Paul writes in 2 Timothy… ‘ALL Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable…’ Yes, we might struggle with a particular passage. If we do, we need to take it to Lord to help us understand the meaning. It might take years, but believe me, it is so worth it…don’t discard His Word because you might not feel comfortable with it…
As for our old, blind dog? I will continue to sweep up the discarded pieces and let him have only the meaty part (I wish dog food manufactures would not add fillers in form of potatoes and carrots – you don’t see wild dogs dig out the veggies in the fields 🙂 )
Lord of Heaven and Earth. I thank You for guiding me when I struggle with Your Word. Lord, help me to understand; help me to gain insight when Scripture does not make sense to me. In the precious name of Jesus I pray. ~ Amen
Thank you for stopping by today…Be blessed today and always…
Amen my dear friend, love you.
Great devo today and it is so true that we often times pick and choose. So many times we go right to the scripture that makes us feel good, the ones that we can say “yea I already do that”, but the Word said that that it will correctly divide and instruct and sometimes we just need to have alittle Word that will bring correcting and disciplining into our lifes. Praise God that He loves us so much that He doesn’t want to leave us the same way we are. lol . love ya, Laurie
Hi Iris!
So many times I have “flung” the unwanted verses with a casual flip of the page. I used to find the OT so difficult to read. I was a NT snob. Or should I say I was in error. When I disciplined myself to read through the OT, it shed so much light on the NT. Now I look forward to reading the ENTIRE Bible!
Thanks for this post, my friend. And thanks for the plug on the sidebar for the retreat. I’ll post something on Saturday on here.