As a child, I used to love the ‘Pick & Mix’ section in Woolworth’s: different kinds of sweets in different tubs and I got to choose the selection of sweets which I personally liked best. This seemed to me much better than a box of chocolates where there were always flavours I did not really enjoy!
Life truly is more like a box of chocolates, though, as Forrest Gump said, than it is a ‘Pick & Mix’! Things happen in life which we do not want, which we do not understand, and which we definitely don’t like. To pretend this is not so is not reality, and truth, ultimately, is what is real. It would be wrong to teach on miracles without including those miracles we wish weren’t there. It would be wrong to treat the Bible like a ‘Pick & Mix’ section of a shop. Paul says that ‘all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ (2 Tim 3:16-17) If we want to be thoroughly equipped for every good work, if we want to be trained in righteousness so that we can live lives that please the Lord, then we must come to terms with the God who is, not the God we would like or the God we imagine. Such images are idolatry. It behoves us to wrestle with the difficult parts of the Bible, the parts we wish weren’t there, the miracles that seem to contradict what we know of God’s love and mercy, so that we can know the God who is. We can’t afford to be ‘pick and mix’ Christians, living from isolated Bible verses. We need to know who God is and surrender to His sovereignty in all things.