The Bible is a Meal, Not a Buffet

By Ann Weaver. 

 

Photo Credits: Ann.

Have you ever been to a buffet? I love them, and my dad loves them a hundred times more. It’s so fun to walk in and see all the tasty options lying out for you to take your pick. The best part is trying a bunch of different foods, then coming back for the best ones afterwards.

That can be fun, but it's easy to only choose the foods that aren't very good for us. Instead of choosing vegetable soup, we choose bread. Instead of steamed broccoli, we choose rice. Instead of roasted zucchini, we choose dessert. And though bread, rice, and dessert are fine in moderation, they're not what you should eat every day. After all, they're not exactly the best thing for our bodies. 

Unfortunately, I've noticed that we often treat the Bible like a buffet. We pick and choose what we want to read, rather than taking the Bible as a whole. The parts we don't like we often ignore or discard, and we disregard it or pretend it doesn't exist. 

It’s an easy thing to do, but it’s the wrong thing. If we only ever read certain sections of the Bible, we’ll end up like a person who only ever eats junk food at a buffet. It may seem alright, but everything will soon get out of balance. 

Even if our favorite food is the healthiest food in the world, that can't be the only thing we eat. In the same way, it's good to read our favorite Bible passages frequently. After all, there is no Scripture that is bad to focus on. We could study the same section for months and still not understand every bit of it. But that food or passage can't be the only thing we pay attention to. It will soon damage our health, either physical or spiritual. 

Not only is it unhealthy to only read certain portions of the Bible, it’s also wrong. If we don't read Scripture as a whole, we will probably misunderstand the passage or take it out of context. That will cause the Word to become skewed and distorted in our minds.

There are several reasons we tend to skip the more boring or tricky parts of Scripture. Let’s look at the top three reasons we might avoid certain places in the Bible.

 

 

1: We want entertainment.

 

These days, everything is made for entertainment. If we’re not interested in something, it's a simple thing to pass it up. All we have to do is click another button for the next TV show or pass one cookie recipe and click on another. We have options, and we use them to curate everything we do to our own tastes.

Unfortunately, we unconsciously seem to think we can do the same thing with Scripture. If a Bible passage isn’t entertaining, such as a genealogy or a long account of ‘what to do as a priest.’ we’ll probably skip it. It’s just not interesting enough to capture our attention, so our eyes jump to the next page or the next story.

 

 

2: We get bored.

 

Do you find it fun to read a long list of names? Are you reading a rule that seems like an exact repeat of a verse you read two chapters ago? Have you read that Bible passage a thousand times in Sunday School?

When we come across these places, we often skim or skip over these parts. We feel like it’s not giving us anything good, so we're not going to "waste our time" reading it. Though this point sounds like the previous one, it's not quite the same. In the last issue. we skip some parts because they’re not entertaining. In this scenario, we pass it over because it seems monotonous or bland.

 

 

3: We can't easily understand it. 

 

Some of the rules or passages in Scripture are difficult to understand. Perhaps we can't tell what God is saying, or maybe it's hard to see the reason He said it. We may start out trying to figure it out, but give up in despair after some time. Afterwards, we may skim the section so we don't have to try again. 

 

 

4: We’re convicted by the passage.

 

There are times that a section of Scripture makes us wince. It seems like the passage is directed right at us, and we begin to skim it so we don’t have to feel guilt. Afterwards, we may skip the page when we come to that section, because we don’t want to confront the sin that God is showing us.

 

 

Each of these examples is an obvious case of spiritual veggies. Though it’s no fun to eat them, they’re often exactly what we need. Just as we may find that spinach or carrots are actually tasty, we often find that there are amazing gems in the things we avoided before. But to find out how good those veggies are, we have to take in all the Bible. Not only the sections that keep us comfortable and happy.

When the temptation comes to skim, ignore, or even skip portions of Scripture, we need to remember that the Bible is a meal, not a buffet. Without the whole of it, Scripture is incomplete. Remember 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is inspired by God…” (emphasis added) That’s every single part. All the way down to each letter and stroke of the pen! (paraphrased from Matthew 5:18) Even when we don't feel like it, we need to read the passage just as we would any other. Let's make sure we keep all of Scripture in our spiritual diets!

 

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