We know with 100% certainty that God wants us to spend time in SOLITUDE with him and understand that HE is the only source of our STRENGTH (Psalm 46:1). But doing that is very difficult, especially if we bring Pick-&-Choose Faith into that conversation.
I know this sounds clear on its face. After all, we know that the Bible—every single word and message in it—is inspired, inerrant, and infallible with established meaning and intent. Right?
Yes, but I am not speaking of outright REJECTION of God’s Word. I am pointing out the danger of our SELECTIVE embrace of God’s Word.
I call it Pick-&-Choose Faith that shoe-horns selectively-chosen scripture into our pre-existing view of the world. What we want God’s Word to say or mean in order to reach our goals or increase our comfort.
God screams NO!
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” James 2:10
Pick-&-Choose Faith reveals its underbelly when Christians declare their deep and passionate love of God—with their “whole heart and soul and mind and strength” (Mark 12:30)—but then place conditions on their devotion to its true and complete meaning.
Once we’re on this path to nowhere, we find ourselves saying the “right things” and erecting the “right outward appearance” to create a façade of strong faith sitting in a bed of excuses. You know…“I don’t have enough time or money” or “things are not that bad.”
The temptation to pick and choose what God says in SOLITUDE with him comes from a craving for SPIRITUAL APPEARANCES that make us “look good” in the eyes of others. We focus on what the world thinks of us and ignore how God actually views our heart.
Selective listening is an act of spiritual rebellion (1 John 2:3–6). The Bible is so much more than ink and pulp. It is alive and beckoning us to pay attention.
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Matthew 17:5
I ask God to help me overcome my desire to pick and choose what he says and what he means in his Word of life.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
How much picking and choosing are you doing during your time in SOLITUDE with God?
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22
