Pandora, a website available in America, New Zealand and Australia, is one of the musical marvels of the internet age. It helps users create their own personal radio station by allowing them to customise their music. It plays a song and users then click a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ sign to indicate whether or not they like it. The users end up with only a grouping of songs that they like.

Unfortunately, sometimes we do that with the Bible too. People may choose some Scripture passages they especially like and ignore others, and so they ‘customise’ it to their preferences. The psalmist looked at God’s Word this way: “The entirety of Your Word is truth” (Ps. 119:160). And the apostle Paul told Timothy, a young pastor, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable” (2 Tim. 3:16).

The Scriptures were important to Jesus (Matt. 5:17-18), but He looked at them differently than the religious leaders of His day. To Him, “You shall not murder” was on the level of being “angry with [a] brother without a cause” (vv.21-22). Far from customising Scripture, He was concerned about the motivation of people’s hearts in applying all of it.

As we read all of God’s Word, we’ll know Him more deeply and desire to honour Him.

Author

Marvin Williams

Topics

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