Recently I was looking to update my phone background with a new verse of scripture. I settled on Hebrews 13:5 and proceeded to search for a nice wallpaper through Google images. What I found was honestly a little bothersome. Every image with this verse in it only included the last half that said “I will never leave you or forsake you”. A very impactful and important statement but so is the rest of the verse that was neglected. As Christians, we should never neglect the rest of a verse or even the rest of scripture to only focus on one small part.
Hebrews 13:5 (ESV)
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
You see by cutting out the majority of the verse above you completely miss the call to action that only shows how meaningful that statement really is. As Christians, we should be content with all we have because we have a God with us who will never leave us no matter what. Which should be enough for us all. As well as the instruction to purposely keep our lives free from the love of money. These are important aspects of our faith that we should be reminded of daily. But are sadly often forgotten because we choose to overlook and neglect them to instead focus on the feel-good part of the verse. Over the part that requires work on our end.
I wish I could say this was the only verse or passage in which Christians are known to cut parts from but that sadly is not the case. The truth is the church has a bad tendency to part out the Bible. Making it fit their point or even personal desires. Failing to see that the Bible is meant to be taken as a whole. Christians cannot cherry-pick the Bible and then simply forget the rest. Every word is from God and it all is important. Each word, verse, chapter, and book builds off the others. All meant to teach and guide God’s people.
2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
2 Peter 1:20–21 (ESV)
20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
It’s easy to understand why believers would only take part of a verse like Hebrews 13:5 choosing not to include the rest on their phone screens. The part they have picked from the verse is the part that makes you feel good. A good and short reminder that God loves you and will always be with you. But we must be careful not to set a precedent in our minds. Choosing to only see the feel-good verses of the Bible and looking past the call to action verses meant to grow us in faith.
Feel good passages are great and they can really help in those dark times. But what we need more as Christians are the teaching passages. Those God included in the Bible to cause us to grow and become more like Him. We must know that God is always with us but we must also know how that should affect our lives. Causing us to be content with whatever we have because we have more than enough in Him.
Whatever you do as a Christian don’t grab a hold of one thing from the scripture and neglect the rest. Every word of the Bible is God’s and He included it for a purpose. So take it as the whole it was meant to be. It is good to cling to verses and memorize them. Just be sure you cling to the complete statement. Pay attention to how it fits into the context of the Bible. You have no idea how much you miss when you take only a little and neglect the rest.
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