Our knowledge of the Bible must be broad and holistic. Don’t make the Bible say what you want to hear. Don’t bring in what you think you need to hear. This is about what God has to say to you. Respond to Him in dialogue. That means it is as much about listening as it is about speaking. Open your eyes and your heart to hear His voice. You can read and think and pray all day but unless you live in God’s Word as well, you will miss the point. The Word helps man walk with God, receive from God and fulfil God’s will on the earth.
Those people who choose the Scriptures they want to live by are not eager about such other areas as holiness, consecration, evangelism, judgement and the love of God. However, these other areas and the love of God work in concert to develop man spiritually. But all that they want is merely to receive from God. They often pray – ‘God, give me, give me…’ It is true the Word of God talks about receiving from God. However, we cannot give out to others until we ourselves have received something from God.
We cannot rely on bits and pieces from the Bible to develop into strong, mature Christians. We need the whole counsel of God – all the bits strung, fastened and laced together in our lives – for us to develop into a strong spiritual man. Faith is important to our spiritual development because the Bible urges us to live by faith (Romans 1:17). However, we must also live a life of love because faith works by love.