The
other day I was sitting in my comfy recliner when my little girl (who’s 3 years
old) climbed up in my lap with a bedtime snack. Abigail loves to eat trail mix.
But as we sat together and I did my fair share of nibbling, I noticed that she
started fishing in the bowl. Abigail started picking out all her favorite pieces—which
in this case happened to be pecans. After she’s eaten all those, she started
targeting peanuts and then the crunchy bread pieces. When I asked her what she
was doing, she said, “I don’t like everything Daddy. I only like the pieces that
make me happy.”
As
I thought about that, I was reminded how so many approach religion and the
Bible with the same attitude. We live in an age of “easy believeism” where people
are prone to pick and choose what they like from various religions to create their
own god and moral system.
In
one of his books, Dr. Erwin Lutzer writes about being on airplane and complimenting
a young lady sitting next to him on her cross necklace. Lutzer said, “Thanks for
wearing that cross, we really do have a wonderful Savior, don’t we?” The lady
rolled her eyes and rebuked him, “I don’t think you understand the cross like I
do. Look at this!” Then she proceeded to show him that behind the cross was a Jewish
star of David, a trinket that symbolized the Hindu god Om, and the Egyptian ankh
for eternal life. The lady said, “I’m in social work and the people I work with
find different ways to God. Christianity is just one path to the divine.”[1]
We
ought not be surprised. Paul warned us this would happen, especially as we get
closer to the return of Christ, “3 For the time is coming when people will not
endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for
themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from
listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
Many
Christians do the same think when they read the Bible and select a church. They
are prone to cherry pick only the verses and doctrines that suit their pallet.
They’re a mile-wide-and-an-inch-deep, so they go for the church with most special
effects and newest music. Prosperity preachers build entire theological systems
by twisting the passages that deal with blessings, health and wealth. No body
wants to hear about sin, judgment, God’s holiness or the need for repentance. Yet,
that also part of the “whole council of God” (Acts 20:27). To neglect these important
teachings is to bring great peril to our soul and stunt our spiritual growth.
Apparently,
this sort of thing happened during the days of Charles Spurgeon as well. He preached
to his congregation in 1885, “Don’t go where it is all fine music and grand
talk and beautiful architecture; those things will neither fill anybody’s
stomach, nor feed his soul. Go where the gospel is preached, the gospel that
really feeds your soul, and go often.”[2]
Friends,
the Bible is not a bag of trail mix where we get to pick and choose what we
like. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). Don’t
be a cafeteria line Christian who says, “I’ll take a serving of God’s promises
and a side of grace and mercy, but hold the holiness.” Instead, take all of God’s
truth in—even the stuff that makes you wince. It’s the only way, Christians can
go from milk to meat (Heb. 5:12). -DM
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