AUG. 22, 2013
Thumbs
Up
Read: Matthew
5:17-20
The entirety of Your Word is truth. —Psalm
119:160
Pandora
is one of the musical marvels of the Internet age. It helps you create
your own
personal radio station by allowing you to “customize” your music. It
plays a
song and you then click a thumbs up or thumbs down sign to indicate
whether or
not you like it. You end up with a grouping of only songs that you 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 “customize”
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 customizing scripture, He was concerned about the
motivation of people’s
hearts in applying all of it.
As
we embrace God’s Word more fully, we’ll know Him more deeply and desire to
honor Him.
Lord, I don’t want to treat Your Word lightly or
to dismiss what seems too difficult. Show me
my heart and help me to obey from the heart
whatever You tell me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
When you open your Bible, ask the Author to open your heart.
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
