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"The Word of God well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest
route to spiritual perfection. And we must not select a few favorite
passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian."~ A.W. Towzer ~
I agree with this quote, but I can't say it any better than this verse: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Tim 3:16-17).
However, to say religiously obeying the Word of God is the shortest route to spiritual perfection just doesn't sit right with me. I agree we all need to strive to obey the Word of God, but first and foremost we need to focus on loving God, and being passionate about knowing Him. When we focus on knowing and loving God, He will change us and the things we do will be in obedience to Him and His Word out of love. When our focus shifts to obeying the Bible to become some super spiritual person we become like the Pharisees Jesus condemns in Matthew 23 who obeyed the law out of pride. They looked good to the people around them, but God saw their hearts. He knew they obeyed out of pride and not out of a heart of love and humility.
Matthew 23:23-28 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
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11 comments:
Great use of Scripture as you talk about Scripture! Loved this post, bless you for sharing.
I enjoyed reading your take on this weeks quote and the scripture you added to it.
Blessings.
You and I are on the same track today. Very well put!
Amen, bless you.
great minds think alike ;)used that Timothy in my post too...
~blessings today...I am focusing on "loving God and being passionate about knowing Him."
~loved that!
lori
I had the same reaction to the quote too - I'm so against anything that smells of works theology, but I don't think that's exactly how he meant it. You're right though, focusing on knowing Him and loving Him ought to be our first priorities!
I thought about 2 Timothy 3:16-17 when I read this quote too. It really is hard to improve on the words of the Apostle Paul!
Blessings ~
Sometimes it seems that when we just take a short quote from someone we aren't getting the truth of what they are trying to say either. I had a little bit of reaction to the quote myself. Our love for God and understanding Him comes from His word and obedience to Him. I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this weeks quote. Blessings...
Great insight! Loved your post.
Blessings to you!
Interesting perspective. I struggled with the quote out of context, so I did a bit of research. If you have a chance, stop by my post to see what I learned.
I thought about that some too with this quote, but focused more on the "favorite verses" not being the ONLY verses that should be applied in our lives. I appreciate your stepping out and sharing. :)
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