When you walk into a fast food restaurant, you are confronted with a wide array of menu items. So many choices! In addition you can often choose a combination of things for a complete meal at one price, then you also have to decide whether to "gigantic-size" it or not. On top of that you can have them hold certain toppings, or add others, possibly for another nominal fee of course if it is cheese. AND there are even "secret menu items" at some fast food places that are not on the menu but are sometimes posted on-line or customers simply know about them by word of mouth or from past menu lists. Decisions, decisions! And it is all a matter of personal preferences and choices.
Some people want to make choices about the Bible, which parts to believe and use, and which parts to "hold" or ignore, or twist to their own liking. God's word is not a fast food menu - we can't pick and choose what we want and don't want today, add things that aren't there, or use something printed there but change it to "have it your way"! But it is easy to fall into this trap, often without even realizing it. This is not new, of course.
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
2 Timothy 4:3 NIV
Passages in the Bible are better understood when they are read in context. Though we often take small snippets from the Bible and build lessons or devotionals on them, we need to understand that the whole of Scripture is given to us by God, and anything that appears at first to be a contradiction is simply our misinterpretation or misunderstanding. We need to remember that God's entire word is true. Even Jesus himself attests to that:
... Your word is truth. John 17:17 NIV
Even though the Bible was written by the hands of human beings, they were inspired by God himself. We can read it with confidence, knowing that it is the word of our gracious God, meant to give us hope and direction. We can use the words of Scripture to guide us in our life.
All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV
But the most important aspect of God's true Word is that it shines the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world by the power of his Spirit!
We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:19-21 NIV
So when we read and study the Bible, it is good to remember not to "super-size" parts of it at the expense of dropping other parts from the "menu", or change certain items to suit our likes or dislikes or to match our preconceived notions, or ignore parts in order to be politically correct or accepted by others. The scriptures are all true and worthwhile to study, not to decide IF they apply to us but to understand HOW they apply to our lives, and to witness to our Lord and Savior.
Written by Jan Andersen
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