Cherry Picking Scripture
Luke 4:9-12 Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and put him on a high place at the edge of the Temple area. He said to him, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! The Scriptures say, ‘God will command his angels to take care of you.’ It is also written, ‘Their hands will catch you so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” Jesus answered, “But the Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”
I saw a coffee mug advertised online recently with the following inscription on it: ‘I can do all things through a verse taken out of context’. I thought to myself … man, I have to get me one of those!
That’s what you call “black humour” because sadly today there are so many of God’s people – Christians – who live out their alleged faith in Jesus in precisely that fashion. As American pastor and author John MacArthur once put it: Half of Christianity is based on verses taken out of context.
Sad, but true. Come on, what you and I would really like to do is to go and cherry pick the fun verses out of the Bible whilst leaving the rest of those messy, difficult ones – like turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, take up your cross and follow Jesus – behind.
But that’s simply not how it works. I know that together we know that, but do we really know it? Are we as ready to accept the challenging bits in God’s Word as we are the fun bits?
When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness, the devil did a bit of cherry-picking of his own:
Luke 4:9-12 Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and put him on a high place at the edge of the Temple area. He said to him, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! The Scriptures say, ‘God will command his angels to take care of you.’ It is also written, ‘Their hands will catch you so that you will not hit your foot on a rock.’” Jesus answered, “But the Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”
Stop cherry-picking.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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