the·ol·o·gy [thee-ol-uh-jee]

I have heard people say, "Why is theology important?" or "Why are you so passionate about theology?" or "I'm just not into theology" to which my response is a broken heart. My first response is anger (righteous I hope) that boils up and come out of me in the form of a blank stare or a frown. It breaks my heart that Christians, believers in Christ, pastors, would say these things. So I want to take a moment to highlight what theology is and why it is important for every Christian and in doing so, I pray God is glorified and we are filled with joy in Him.

What is theology? Answer: theology is the study of God. That is the simple, one sentence, definition. Theology is the study of God. Maybe now you are beginning to see why those questions/statements break my heart. What I hear is "Why is studying God important?" or "Why are you so passionate about studying God?" or, and this one breaks my heart the most, "I'm just not into studying God." These are true sentences that have come out the mouths of believers and I have even heard the last one from a worship pastor before. Can you image saying to your wife, "I'm just not into studying you." "I really don't care to learn about you." No way! Not in a million years would a husband say to his wife, "I do not care about getting to know you." There should be a longing and a desire for all those married to learn and study their spouses. But more than that, there should be a longing and a desire to know who made you and who it is you say you serve. You should be far more passionate about learning God than learning your wife! So it brings us to question two.

Why is theology, the study of God, important for every Christian? Answer: theology is important for every Christian for many reasons. Maybe hundreds of reasons. But the reason I am going to focus on here is a Christian's response to the sweet and bitter providence of God. To say it another way, theology is important because the world will be watching as you go down a bitter road of suffering (the death of a loved one, news of cancer, tsunamis and hurricanes, bridge collapses and the like) and your response will speak volumes of where your treasure is and whether or not you are indeed a Christian.

When you get a call, like I did a couple weeks ago, that your best friends dad (which I will add has been an important father figure in my life in a spiritual sense in addition to living in his house for three years or so) has colon and liver cancer and the liver is inoperable, how are you going to respond? All of the sudden, theology matters. How you think about God really does make a difference. Is your response going to be anger? Or fear? Or resentment toward God? Your response will tell volumes about how you view God and how you view yourself. If your response has "ME" in the center, God is not glorified. But if your response is centered around Jesus Christ and has Jesus running through the entire response, then you make much of God and he is then glorified in your response.

Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, theologian, and missionary to Native Americans, said the following in his "Miscellanies":

God is glorified within Himself these two ways: 1. By appearing... to Himself in His own perfect idea [of Himself], or in His Son, who is the brightness of His glory. 2. By enjoying and delighting in Himself, by flowing forth in infinite . . . delight towards Himself, or in his Holy Spirit...So God glorifies Himself toward the creatures also in two ways: 1. By appearing to... their understanding. 2. In communicating Himself to their hearts, and in their rejoicing and delighting in, and enjoying, the manifestations which He makes of Himself...God is glorified not only by His glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart. God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might [be] received both by the mind and heart. He that testifies his idea of God's glory [doesn't] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation of it and his delight in it.

Many people will, I hope, see the glory, or intrinsic worth and radiance of Christ, during these times of uncertainty. But my prayer for those reading this, is that those that see the glory will rejoice in the glory of Christ even when staring cancer in the face.

Let us remember the words of the Apostle Paul who said, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" Philippians 3:8-9. This health I have, I count it as loss. This job, I count it as loss. My family, I count it as loss….that I might gain Christ! If you are not there, wrestle with God; Plead with God; Oh God I pray I might go there and stay - treasuring Christ all the way to my deathbed!