Pick and Choose?

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The truth of God’s word is not dependent upon human compliance.

In God’s word are many instructions regarding life and living. Some are more about an individual’s response to God while others lean more to the way we interact with each other. Whatever the instruction, nothing changes in God’s words if you comply or if you rebel. His instruction remains.

Let me show you an example of what I am thinking about with a statement passed around in recent months on social media. I do not know its source although it is attributed to Rev. Benjamin Cremer. I don’t know if this person really exists, and if so, if he actually said/wrote this. Nevertheless, this quotation and ones like it flood the minds of modern readers.

“If you take the Bible extremely literally about human sexuality, but not about feeding the hungry, bringing good news to the poor, liberating the oppressed, forgiving debts, bringing health to the sick, or loving your neighbor, please don’t act like you take the Bible seriously.”

That sounds good, right? It sounds good and right! Surely, anyone who takes the Bible seriously must be serious about those good works. And yet, you might already see the slight of hand the author attempts.

The author of the quotation has isolated two general activities and set them against each other. On the one hand is ’human sexuality,’ which might be placed in the broad category of holiness. It is about one’s moral response to God. We might even say that it is addressed by the first great command, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

On the other hand there are ‘acts of service,’ which might be placed in the broad category of love. It is about one’s love for one’s fellow man, something addressed in the second great command.

One of the reasons this quotation sounds as if it is the moral high ground is because the Bible contains something similar. In 1 John 3:17 we read...

Whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

However, let’s flip the original quotation upside down:

“If you take the Bible extremely literally about feeding the hungry, bringing good news to the poor, liberating the oppressed, forgiving debts, bringing health to the sick, or loving your neighbor but not about human sexuality, please don’t act like you take the Bible seriously.”

The way the original quotation reads, morality is set against loving service as if service is superior to morality. Yet, in the second modified version, loving service is set against morality as if morality is superior. Reduced down, both versions ultimately present tension between the first great command and the second. In reality, both commands come from God and do not compete. The second command is developed from the first and complements it.

If we look deeper, both commands are rooted in the character of God. God is holy and demands that we live our lives in holiness and purity. At the same time, God is love and He demands that we live our lives in love and service. In God there is no tension between holiness and love. God is holy in all his decisions and actions and, at the same time, He always acts in love.

So, do you need to love others through service? Absolutely. And also, do you need to maintain holiness through purity in your sexuality and all other aspects of life? Absolutely. Christianity is not a pick and choose menu. You are either a disciple of Jesus in every aspect of your life, or you are not a disciple.

Mark Stinnett

April 12, 2026

Is the Bible Just about Law?

Several years ago my mother told me about a preacher who delivered a good biblical lesson which concluded with a plea to think and make personal application. He had left the application open-ended making each person responsible. The stay-at-home mom would have a different application than the doctor or the widow; different also than the application to the salesman or the school teacher.

Afterward a friend of my mom snorted, “Why can’t he just tell us what to do? It would be a lot easier if we knew the rules. I could do that.” Many would agree. There is something comfortable in a packaged set of rules. It’s neat and tidy. It’s brief and simple. It is not flawed like a command lacking precise definition such as: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

OOPS! Back up. Those were the words of Jesus drawn from the Law of Moses!

It is true, a packaged law code may sound simple, brief, and tidy. Yet it strikes against the two most important commands uttered by God in which the application is open-ended. Jesus commented on the two Great Commands saying:

On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets. 

 —Matthew 22:40 (NASB95)

In the Hebrew Scriptures ‘The Law’ was not simply the law code known as Law of Moses. It was the entire Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. ‘The Prophets’ included the historical books (Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings), as well as all the books of prophecy. So, Jesus was saying that God’s revelation, up to His point in time, depended on the two Great Commands. All scripture revolved around and was connected to the commands to love God and to love one’s neighbor which both had open-ended application.

We can thank a Jewish lawyer for pointing out the gray area, “Who is my neighbor?” Yet, Jesus gave an answer in the Parable of the Good Samaritan that showed that the lawyer had asked the wrong question. (Luke 10)

The statement from my mom’s friend suggested the same kind of thinking as the lawyer. On the surface it sounds good, “Just define the rules and we can follow.” “Give me a precise definition of ‘neighbor’ and I will comply.” And yet, that is the wrong approach.

Too often, people have reduced the Bible to a set of rules and tried to push those rules on others. As a result, many people have lost interest in the Bible.

In the late 1800’s there was a shift in biblical scholarship. Instead of the inspired Word of God many saw the Bible as mere ancient literature. The literary approach might have partly been a reaction to a legal approach, but it gave way to the view that truth is largely dependent upon history and culture. Based on the trend of modern biblical interpretation many 'Christian' groups have effectively stamped the word ‘Obsolete’ on the cover of the Bible.

However, the Bible still claims to be the inspired revelation of God. The Bible claims to be relevant in giving life answers regardless of location, time, cultural background, history or politics. So, one must either embrace the Bible in its entirety or reject the whole book. There is no middle ground.

The study and application of the Bible can be challenging. Not every question in life is answered directly, not every issue resolved by a single verse. However, if we are going to be true disciples of Jesus, we must devote ourselves to His Word. We will be wise to approach the Bible with a proper attitude and with a patient, thinking mind.


Mark Stinnett

July 27, 2025

Second Things First

To some extent, our society loves the second great command of Jesus.

There is a tremendous push in our society for tolerance. In one sense, that is admirable. We need to be tolerant of the preferences of others, the opinions of others, the weaknesses of others, and so on. Tolerance seems to embrace the idea of love.

And yet, tolerance in our society isn’t what it seems. All too often, tolerance is more accurately: “You need to be tolerant of me.”

When tolerance becomes “You, tolerate me,” then I am embracing me, not love. That is what happens when you put second things first.

When the second great command is placed ahead of the first…

• Man is glorified.
• Man is central.
• Man becomes like...man.
• Man is the motivation.

However, when we keep first things first, the first and greatest command is given priority:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. 

—Mark 12:30

When we put first things first…

• God is glorified.
• God is central.
• Man becomes like...God!
• God is the motivation for all that we do.

Do you remember the teaching of Jesus…?

Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 

—Matthew 5:41

This teaching, from the Sermon on the Mount, acknowledged that a Roman soldier could force a person to carry his load for a mile. Naturally, that was distasteful to a Jew. The Jewish teachers taught that a disciple of the law should not be pressed into service by the king’s soldiers. Jesus, however, taught people to have a different frame of mind. Voluntarily go another mile.

Now, thinking of that teaching, how absurd would it be for a person to volunteer to a Roman soldier, “Hey, I’d be happy to carry your things a second mile.” That kind of thinking is laughable. A person cannot possibly go the second mile until after going the first.

In a similar way, how absurd is it to think that there is benefit in following the second great command without first observing the first great command? In fact, it is impossible to truly love your neighbor as yourself if God is not first in your life.

“For God so loved the world…” is not about how much God loved, but about the way in which God loved. God’s love is sacrificial; He gave His only begotten Son.

When a person loves God first, they embrace that same kind of sacrificial love and extend it outward to others. Tolerance then becomes exactly what it sounds like, “I will be tolerant of you by sacrificing for your good.”

Tolerance must never sacrifice the holiness and purity of God. Tolerance must never embrace sin. God’s tolerance does not embrace every thought and every lifestyle because not every thought and lifestyle glorifies God.

God loved sacrificially, but He did not cease to be God. We are to love our neighbor, but not without first devoting ourselves to God in love.

Keep first things first! Then, and only then, will the second have relevance.

Mark Stinnett

October 6, 2024

How Do You Love God?

The last four blog entries have been about different aspects of the Greatest Command:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
—Mark 12:30 (NASB95)

As a teen we had a few cliché answers when asked about heart, soul, mind and strength:

• Heart = Emotions
• Soul = Inner being (whatever that is)
• Mind = Intellect
• Strength = Physical

Those associations might carry an element of truth, but they didn’t translate to daily life. I wish someone had pointed us to the example of King Josiah! (See last week’s blog entry.)

Now, did you notice the extreme repetition?

Jesus could have given us the short list: heart, soul, mind and strength. Yet, the repetition of and places emphasis on every single element in the list. Love God with all your heart…
   ...and that’s not all; there’s more...soul…
   ...and that’s not all; there’s more...mind…
   ...and that’s not all; there’s more...strength.

And it is not just that you love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength, but...

• ALL your heart and...
• ALL your soul and...
• ALL your mind and...
• ALL your strength.

So, how does that translate to daily life?

First, love is not a mere emotion. Love is a conscious choice desiring a relationship.

The one who loves God has made a conscious decision to pursue a relationship with God. He will do whatever it takes to initiate and maintain that relationship. It is an intentional decision that becomes the filter through which all perceptions, thoughts, life decisions, purpose, daily choices, speech and behaviors pass. It is a resolute and determined choice that generates a deep conviction that cannot be shaken.

Your love for God governs your relationship with family, not vice versa. God rules in your choice of career and the individual jobs you take, the friends you make, the way you spend your money, and even the way you vacation.

The threat of losing your relationship with God keeps you from being lax about sin. It cools your anger, encourages patience, curbs coarse language, removes envy and jealousy, dampens temptations to lie, steal, cheat, gossip and lust.

Your love for God gives you energy in life. He motivates you to get out of bed, to look at each new day with awe and wonder, to enjoy life in contentment without coveting the lives and possessions of others. Your love for God gives you purpose in your dead-end job, in your unfulfilling relationships, and in your mundane life.

Your love for God turns your listless daydreaming into thoughtful actions for others. Your love for God doesn’t let youth hold you back, doesn’t let the busy years exhaust you, and doesn’t let age wear you down. Regardless of your age, health, income, position, education and all else, your love for God moves you to love others.

Your love for God compels you to bow in awe and to stand in praise. You listen to Jesus because you love God. You embrace God’s people because you love God and they love God. Your love for God defines you, and you don’t worry about what other people think or how you look.

Your love for God gives you insight into this life and a vision of hope that peers into eternity!

Mark Stinnett

April 25, 2921

Loving God With ALL You've Got

At the ripe old age of 18...yes, 18, not 81, King Josiah initiated a restoration project. His father and grandfather had allowed the temple of God to fall into ruins and idolatry to run rampant throughout the land. Josiah commissioned men to restore the temple, sparing no expense.

During the restoration, a copy of the Law of Moses was found, brought to the king and read to him. His reaction was not one of joy but of shock and horror. He knew immediately that God’s people had strayed from the Law and were deserving of God’s wrath.

Through a prophetess God sent word to Josiah that because of his humility and his proper reaction to the reading of the Law, His divine wrath would be withheld during the king’s lifetime.

The king then gathered all the leaders of the people, along with the people of the nation of Judah, and had the Law read to them.

The king...made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant.

—2 Kings 23:3 (NASB95)

Then King Josiah began a tremendous restoration project, not only restoration of the temple, but also restoration of the relationship between the nation of Judah and God. The king…

• Brought all the vessels and idols devoted to foreign gods and goddesses out of God’s temple and burned them. He ground all that was left into dust.
• Broke down all the high places and altars devoted to foreign gods as well as the housing directly associated with the idolatry.
• Destroyed Topheth, in the valley of Hin-nom, the place where children had been sacrificed to the god Molech.
• Gathered the priests who had served the foreign gods, presumably Levites, and did not allow them to serve at the altar of God, yet allowed them to live among their brothers and eat the food according to the Law.
• Slaughtered the high priests of the foreign gods and removed mediums and spiritists.

Then King Josiah restored the Passover, and it was a celebration unlike any before it, going all the way back to the days of the judges.

Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him. (v. 25)

With passion and unwavering commitment King Josiah turned toward God. He loved God with all his heart. At age 18 he stepped forward and, with unflinching determination, carried out a great restoration. He loved God with the very essence of his being; he loved God with all his soul. His restoration was marked by careful planning, with intentional and deliberate actions. His purpose was rooted in what he read in God’s word. He loved God with all his mind.

In restoring God’s temple, there was to be no accounting, that is, no tracking of expenditures. When destroying idolatry, Josiah went so far as to demolish, burn and grind into dust the things associated with idols. Nothing was left to restore idolatry. He loved God with all his might.

Young King Josiah is a picture of the greatest command, to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength!

Mark Stinnett

April 18, 2021

Do You Love God With All Your Soul?

 

Define soul.

The writer of the book of Hebrews wrote:

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 

 —Hebrews 4:12 (NASB95)

That tells me that if I want to learn something about the soul and how it differs from the spirit, I should open my Bible instead of consulting the dictionary. Here are some things I found when trying to better understand soul.

The Hebrew word for soul is often translated with a personal pronoun: I, my, myself, you, yourself, anyone, them, themselves, etc.

In both Old and New Testaments soul is often translated life. This is different than spirit, which is breath or life essence. Soul seems to be more the essence of being.

In the creation sequence (Genesis 1) and in the instruction following the flood (Genesis 9), living creatures were literally living souls, and that includes bugs, birds, beasts and fish.

Next, consider Genesis 2:7.

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Literally, “man became a living soul.”

Consider also Leviticus 17:11, an explanation following a prohibition of eating blood:

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.

Literally, “the soul of the flesh is in the blood” and “it is the blood by reason of the soul that makes atonement.”

I’m not sure that it means that the soul is literally in our blood any more than we think that our emotions are literally in our hearts. Yet, there is a connection between soul and blood!

The soul…

• Experiences bitterness;
• Is knit to another in love;
• Can be troubled, grieved, tormented;
• Gains knowledge and understanding through life’s experiences;
• Has appetite and hunger not associated with the physical body, i.e., good desires and evil desires (lust);
• Rejects and abhors things;
• Can sin, swear, act unfaithfully;
• Bears guilt and receives punishment;
• Can also be purified and saved for eternity.

The soul is the essence of our human being describing our identity. It incorporates our will, intent, desire. The soul is that part of our being that chooses.

In Colossians 3:23 the Apostle Paul wrote:

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.

Heartily is literally, from the soul.

God desires your love from the very essence of your being. It is love by choice. It is intentional love. It is love that is resolute, determined, and unwavering. It is by your will that you love.

Jesus said,

Love the Lord your God with all your soul.

Mark Stinnett

April 4, 2021

When Do You Put Your Bible Down?

When do you ever put your Bible down?

I suppose your answer depends on how you interpret the question.

A friend of mine once asked why some Christians were always studying their Bible. “How many more Bible studies do we need?” His point was that at some point a person needs to put the Bible down and actively do what it teaches. That might not be the way I would say it, but I could not argue. In fact, Scripture teaches this principle:

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. —James 1:23–25 (NASB95)

Isn’t is clear? The one who actually does what he has found in God’s word “will be blessed in what he does.”

Jesus made the same point using the ‘wise man and foolish man’ illustration at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. (You can read it in Matthew 7:24-27)

These teachings seem to imply that a person can actually over do it on the ‘Bible study’ and forget to follow the teaching.

So, while my friend made a good observation that IS taught in scripture, one must also be careful not to go to the opposite extreme; that is, the extreme of forgetting to open the Bible.

There are two essential teachings in scripture:

• Love God with everything you’ve got; and
• Love others as you love yourself.

Jesus said as much on one occasion when a man asked Him what to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what he had read in Scripture and the man answered with the ’two great commands.’ Then Jesus responded: "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live." —Luke 10:27

Here’s the tricky part: What does ‘love God’ and ‘love others’ actually look like in practice? What does love look like when life serves me pain and sadness and calamity? How do I love others when times are good? How do I love other when times are bad? How do I love those who are mostly unlovable, or those who hurt me or my family?

How do I keep loving God when the religion I grew up with becomes stale? How does love work when I am unloved and all alone???

To answer these ‘life’ questions...to really answer these questions…(you already know where this is going)...pick up your Bible.

The Bible is filled with real-life examples of people who got it right and who also blew it. We can learn what ‘to do’ and what ‘not to do.’ It also contains practical teachings for day-to-day living. It instructs us in purity and holiness, and in love of God and fellow man.

So, I need to put my Bible down at least once a day...as long as I recognize that I can only put it down if I have already picked it up!

YES! Put your Bible down...at least once a day.

Just never forget to pick it up...at least once a day.