Are we scripture skippers?

We love our go-to verses, don’t we? Yet at times it reminds me of skipping rocks.

Have you ever done that?

I’m not good at it, but I’ve seen some good rock skippers. If you hold your wrist just right, and flick your wrist just right, and you hold your mouth just right, those rocks can journey far.

But what have they skipped over?

Every word in the Bible is important and impactful. Every word.

If you’re like me, we find ourselves pulling verses for what we feel we need. What we really need is to be careful we’re not missing the whole story.

Let’s think of some favorite go-to verses:

James 4:7 says resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Good stuff, and oh how we need it. But we can’t just resist the devil on our own, we’ve got to take in the entire verse:

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 NASB

Submit therefore to God. That comes first.

Here’s an excerpt of a post in Christianitytoday.com:

Do not judge, or you too will be judged (Matthew 7 v 1)

Out of context: In a pluralistic culture where the greatest ‘sin’ is intolerance, this looks very much like Jesus telling us not to criticize or find fault with one another’s lifestyles.

In context: In v3-5, Jesus tells us first to address the issues in our own lives (the plank in our own eye) before turning our attentions to the issues with others. BUT, v5 does indicate that once we’ve put our own houses in order, we are than enabled to help other people deal with their issues. So while we should be careful not to behave judgmentally, we are supposed to be involved – in humility and through community – in helping others to work through their issues.

While we shouldn’t use judgment to condemn, we’re not off the hook entirely. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, but that doesn’t mean we can look the other way when we see a brother or sister stumble.

We’re called to share the truth in love with the purpose of bringing restoration. It’s in the Word, check it out in Matthew 18:15-17

If we don’t know what the Word says, we won’t know what it doesn’t say. Hebrews tells us to move beyond elementary teachings about Christ, and move forward into maturity.

So yeah, that spiritual gray? It’s quite becoming, don’t pluck it out.

It doesn’t mean we’re getting old, it means we’re getting new.

Here’s more good news: Girls, we are smart.

I love Bible teachers like Beth Moore, and many others, who aren’t afraid to give us meaty study tools. In our study time, we’ve got to move past the milk and be fed with substance.

We weren’t designed to drink milk forever. This is great news, especially for nursing moms lol.

It’s time to be weaned from milk and sink our teeth into the meat of the Word.

Let’s not settle, K?

Our pastors can give a dynamite, meaty sermon. But bite size pieces for thirty minutes once or twice a week isn’t enough to cut our teeth on. If we’re depending on that, we’ll starve.

Would a parent feed their child only once or twice a week?

Even though the Word is for everyone, it’s personal.

If we depend solely on others to tell us what the Bible says, it’s like letting someone else read our love letters. Nothing beats reading the Word of truth with our own eyes.

Faith is the evidence of things not seen, and our faith is strengthened by the Word we can see.

Memorizing scripture verses is a beautiful thing, and we all have our favorites, but let’s not miss the big picture by being scripture skippers.

Go deeper, dig deeper, walk deeper.

I facilitate a women’s Bible study group on Thursday nights. We just finished James-Mercy Triumphs and are heading into The Armor of God study.

What are you currently studying?

For more insight into the Word, check out this site http://www.janiscox.com/category/word-of-god-speak/

Share a favorite Bible study in the comments.

Peace & Love,