“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the
most important thing about us.” – A. W. Tozer
There exists in the minds of some a hard distinction between
life and theology. They believe
that theology is a pursuit for those especially interested in Bible trivia or
who want to be seminary professors.
It’s an unnecessary path for those who simply want to live a faithful
Christian life. They reject the
study of the theology because they perceive it to be impractical. They don’t see any way that it benefits
their growth in Christlikeness.
However, rightly understood, theology is the vital
foundation of a life lived for Christ.
Strictly speaking, theology is the body of everything we believe. All who would know God should be
students of theology.
For a believer to say, “I just want to be a faithful
Christian; I’m not really interested in theology,” is akin to a husband saying,
“I just want to be a good husband; I don’t really want to know anything about
my wife.” The two cannot be
separated. For a husband to grow
in his loving service to his wife, he must learn her. Likewise, for a believer to grow in faithfulness, he must
grow in the knowledge of the truth about the God he serves.
To that end, the believer must be a tireless student of the excellencies of God. If, as 1 Peter 2:9 teaches, we were
chosen to proclaim the excellencies of Him who saved us, we must know what
those excellencies are. We must
know the glorious attributes of our God and Savior, and we must be prepared to
proclaim them not only with our mouths but with our lives. That is, we must live in light of the excellencies of God. We must live in ways that demonstrate to the world around us
our conviction that these things about God are true.
Which brings us back to the concept that theology and life
are inextricably bound. If we
believe that certain things about God are true, it should lead us to live in a
particular way. If God is in
meticulous control of all things, we should live in a particular way. If God is omnipresent, we should live
in a way that reflects that. If
God is triune, there should be things in our lives affected by that truth. The things that we believe about God
should impact the way we live. And
more than anything, for the redeemed, it should impact our joy.
So beginning on September 7 at 6:30pm at the church, we’ll
be starting a study of the excellencies of God with a view toward the practical
results of knowing and loving and enjoying all the facets of His nature. Right now in the midst of your
circumstances, why does it matter that God is timeless, unchanging, impeccable,
immanent, self-existent, immense, or transcendent? Come to the study and find out! The name of the study will be Walking in The Excellencies of God. I hope to see you there!
Comments