Even the boring bits are useful

It's not especially difficult to find great comfort in the Bible. It is such a comforting book that you can find it printed on calendars, motivational posters, even t-shirts. But let's be honest: It's not like you can pick it up, turn to a random page and find something to make you happy.

In truth, the Bible is filled with all sorts of stuff we'd rather wasn't in there. There are whole doctrines we don't like. On top of that, there's stuff we just can't stand reading. How many of us come to those long genealogies and just skip them? Or those censuses? They're just boring, right? Honestly, yes. But they're there for a reason.

According to Paul, all Scripture is profitable. The bits you like are profitable for more than just being bits you like. The bits you don't like? Chew and swallow. You may not understand why you need them yet, but they exist for a reason.

To illustrate this, let's talk about those genealogies for a moment. I once heard a story about a person who invited his friend to church. The night before, he prayed that the pastor would preach the best sermon he'd ever preached so that his friend might come to know the Lord. To his dismay, the pastor did not preach anything flashy, but focused on the genealogies. The man confessed his disappointment to his friend, but his friend comforted him. "I gave my life to Christ last night", he said. And why? Because genealogies involve a looooooot of death. So the guy got to thinking about his own mortality. Knowing he was one day going to die and just become one more name on a long list of death, he began thinking about what comes next. And so he surrendered.

So we see that even those boring genealogies can help bring someone to Christ just by existing, and that's without unpacking them. What happens when we dig deeper? This is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and/or instruction in righteousness, just like the rest of Scripture. Let us therefore not elevate some Scriptures above others. Let's take the bits we like with the bits we don't. Who knows? Maybe you'll gain something from it.