More specifically, God uses the parts of the Bible that we disagree with, that we don't like, or that we don't understand to shape us. And it only makes sense doesn't it? The parts of the Bible that you already love...
- "God is love."
- "We comfort you with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."
- "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, to prosper you..."
...don't really shape you, in the sense that you are already shaped in that way. You already believe and agree with it. These parts don't do something new in you.
No, the parts that shape you are the parts that contradict the beliefs you have inherited from your family or culture which are counter to the way that God intended for us to be human. These are the parts of the Bible that we must pay specific attention to and allow to shape our thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. Otherwise, how would God shape us?
So if you were looking to the answer to the, rather inflammatory, title of this post, then the answer is: The parts of the Bible that you already love and agree with you can ignore. Not in the sense that they're not true, or good, or important. Only in the sense that the real shaping work that God wants to do in your life, He'll do through the other parts of the Bible.
