"Pick And Choose"

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

Last night I pulled out my children's illustrated Bible story book to read to my eighteen month old granddaughter. Of course we didn't get very far with the reading- she was more interested in the pictures. She loves ponies and puppies so all she wanted to do was turn the pages- back and forth- looking for puppies and ponies. I wonder how many of us are guilty of doing the same thing with God's word. You know- skipping the parts we don't like and turning to the ones we do like.

Do you skip over the commands in order to look for the blessings? Do you only want to hear the parts that tell you what God's responsibility toward you is but quickly turn past the passages that point out your responsibility toward Him? Do you overlook the verses that talk about sacrifice, self denial, repentance, taking up your cross? Are you more interested in reading about God's love but neglect to read about His justice? Do you like the promises but look past the conditions that you have to meet in order to receive the promises?

You can't divide the Word of God- you can't dissect it into pieces and take only the pieces you like. You can't receive some of it and reject the rest. You can't have the blessings and promises without the conditions. You can't have the glory without the suffering. You can't have the victory without the battles. You can't have it your way, picking out only what you want.

God gave us the "whole" word, we have to have all of it- what we like and what we don't like, what is good and what seems bad, the conditions and the promises, the do's and the don'ts, the blessings and the chastening, the sacrifice and the rewards. The whole Word of God works together for our benefit- every chapter, every verse, every word, every part.

Have a great day. It's like one man said, "The Word of God is not a buffet; you can't pick and choose what you want".