No one does everything that the Bible commands them to do. This has nothing to do with being sinful (though, of course, our sinfulness does cause us to fall short at times), rather it has to do with how we interact with scripture.
For example, Romans 16:16 says, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” I do not know anyone who does this. In fact, in our day and age, uninvited kissing may get you charged with harassment. Therefore, we have changed this command so that it includes a “holy handshake.”
Sometimes we follow scriptural examples to the letter of the law and other times we ignore them completely. For example, in Matthew 26, Jesus starts what we call “The Lord’s Supper.”
He takes bread, blesses it and tells his followers to remember his body that was to be sacrificed on the cross (verse 26). Then he takes a cup, blesses it and tells the disciples to drink it and remember his blood (verse 27). In some form or another, most Christians take those examples seriously and continue to follow them to this day.
However, the end of that paragraph says, “When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (verse 30). Many churches sing a hymn after the Lord’s table, but no one suggests that we must then fly to Jerusalem and climb the Mount of Olives. We completely ignore that part of the example.
Of course, those are silly examples but they make the point that scripture is not always as “cut and dried” as we would like it to be. However, that is a good thing. Interacting with God’s word ought to make us to think and ask questions like, “How does this apply today?” or, “What does this verse require me to do?”
Scripture comes alive, not when we read it, but when we wrestle with it.
As this new year begins, may I encourage you to dig into the word of God. It may not always be easy, but I promise that your effort will be rewarded.
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
