The Whole Truth

“What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” – Deuteronomy 12:32

A root canal, a dental procedure which kills the root of a tooth while leaving the hard portion intact for chewing and aesthetics, is not something one chooses to do for fun. Certain procedures should follow a root canal to prevent infections, but for some reason they were not done after a root canal I once had. The result was a painful infection in my mouth. To fix the problem, a doctor prescribed two medications: one expensive antibiotic that would kill the infection, and a cheap painkiller that would make me feel more comfortable.

I followed the doctor's orders, but soon the infection returned. The second time around, I instructed the pharmacist to forget the painkiller; I had already spent quite a bit to get rid of this infection, and I was willing to bear the pain to save some money. The expensive antibiotics I renewed, because I wanted to take care of the problem for good! Of course, I could have instead bought the cheap stuff to feel good and skipped the expensive medicine that would fix the problem, but then the infection would only have worsened. I took the medicine and it did the job.

When I thought about how foolish it would have been to take only the painkillers, I was reminded of people who choose to believe only the parts of the Bible that “feel good.” In a sense, the Bible is our medicine for the fatal disease of sin. When we follow the prescription in God's Word, our souls are saved from eternal death. However, we cannot pick and choose which parts of the Bible we will take; it only works if we take it all. Some people say they only believe the passages of God's Word that promise peace, love, joy, and other blessings, and they leave out the more challenging passages that warn the sinner to repent, describe a place of eternal punishment, or talk about an evil one called Satan. But believing just the “feel good” parts will only mask the problem of sin, allowing the condition to worsen. Conviction, godly sorrow, and repentance may be painful, but we thank God for them because they bring the cure to the problem of sin. Then come His wonderful promises of peace, love, and joy!

If we were going to only believe parts of the Bible, how would we decide which parts to follow? We need to be careful not to be persuaded by doctrines that do not include the whole Word of God, and to guard ourselves against them by knowing what the Bible says and why it is important. A reader-board in our small town states, “Be sure of what you stand for, or you will fall for anything.”

God's Word is not only true, but it is the only truth. All of it!