As I read through Scripture, I checked myself.
I’ve had many conversations with people who toss an easy verse here and there. What we might serve as proof can come off as haughty indifference, and what we offer as an encouraging promise might be received as a painful reminder.
If we’re only searching for Scripture that we agree with or things that make sense to us, we don’t position ourselves well in God’s truth. In fact, are we positioning ourselves in his truth at all when we recall our favorite go-to verses without spending time in the context—not only of those verses but many we’re not familiar with? We shortchange our faith as well as the capacity with which we can impact others’ lives.
We listen to the podcasts that snippet the truths we want affirmed. We listen to messages that encourage more than challenge us. We too easily reject someone whose understanding of a verse differs from ours.
We don’t have to change our beliefs simply because we listen to someone. But the listening process invites us to trust God to keep us humble as well as to cultivate our understanding. There’s room for each of us to grow.
When we read Scripture with humility and with God’s wisdom, we will always be perplexed, curious, encouraged, and corrected.
Pure Purpose 