Reading through Deuteronomy, I get to the part where Moses is nearing the end of his mission. He’ll soon be stepping down and handing the lead over to Joshua. Before he does, however he makes one final plea for obedience in Chapter 4, verse 2,
“Keep the commandments of God,” he says. “Don’t add to them and don’t subtract from them.”
Likewise Moses is telling us, do not add to the gospel, and do not take away from it. My Bible had 66 books, 1,189 chapters, and 31,102 verses. The way I see it, if God wanted 31,103 verses in there, they would be there. His word has been preserved through the ages, for you and for me. To live and to grow by.
As I got to thinking about this, I was reminded of an article I found the other day about Thomas Jefferson’s Bible. If you look at the pictures online, you’ll see how he went through his Bible and literally cut out the pieces he wanted to keep. Jefferson’s idea of a good read was “The Life and Morals of Jesus,” which he compiled from his clippings.
In a letter to John Adams, he wrote,
There will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. I have performed this operation for my own use, by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter which is evidently his, and which is as easily distinguishable as diamonds in a dunghill.
According to Wikipedia, “Jefferson’s condensed composition excludes all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels that contain the resurrection and most other miracles, and passages that portray Jesus as divine.”
It sounds bizarre when you put it that way, but isn’t that what people do? The minute our wisdom gets in the way of God’s word people start to pick and to choose the easiest verses to swallow.
And so we tinker with temptation… Maybe I can let that one slide today and get on it tomorrow. Maybe I can hold onto my anger for just a bit longer. I know I’m a Christian, but I’m about to give that lady a piece of my mind! A little lie won’t hurt. A little gossip won’t hurt…
And just like that, we’re cutting and pasting the scripture we like… “Life as a Christian, According to Me.”
If we truly hope to grow in our faith, we need to accept that the wisdom of God excels ours. We need to understand that the Bible was inspired by God in it’s entirety. We need to believe that choosing His will is the best choice we’ll make any day, and in every situation. And then, we need to keep practicing that.
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Tilling the Soil
Read Deuteronomy 4:1-14
Planting Hope
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18, KJV)
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
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You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife