Thumbs Up by Marvin Williams

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.