From what I’ve seen, many people have a “Bible within a Bible,” meaning that they selectively prioritize certain passages over others. It’s a temptation for all of us, myself included.

What I’ve discovered is that you can learn a lot about where you need to grow by being honest about what passages you tend to avoid.

If you avoid the passages about grace and love, is it because you’re overly legalistic and self-righteous? If you avoid the passages about truth and obedience, is it because you’re easily swayed by the currents of our culture?

I recently put together a piece called “10 Unpopular Things Jesus Said.” It’s available in podcast or blog form (you can link to it below). It is intended to encourage some honest self-reflection. Do we like following a certain version of Jesus—a photo-shopped Jesus who highlights what we like and crops out what we don’t—or the Jesus of Scripture?

Today, the point is simply this. Let’s encourage one another to follow Jesus whole-heartedly, not partial-heartedly. He himself says that if we love him we will keep his commands (John 14:15). The apostle John also says that “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). The only way we can do this is to better imitate the actual Jesus of Scripture, not the sub-par version we may have cobbled together from our own hobby horses.

Jesus was God-enfleshed, full of both grace and truth. He upheld the law of Moses, called the Scriptures the word of God, announced the kingdom of God, taught us to love our neighbours and enemies, exorcised demons, reorganized priorities, healed the sick, offered forgiveness, died in our place, and called us to repent of sin, die to self, be salt and light, and live in holiness for the glory of our heavenly Father who is renewing and renovating all things, bringing heaven to earth.

Why would we want to devote ourselves to anything less?

We can learn a lot about where we need to grow by being honest about what we tend to avoid.

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Notes and extra content:

–“10 Unpopular Things Jesus Said.” Click here, or find it on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.