Chapter
Twelve
Theology is
a friend getting to know their Best Friend.
If you haven’t
noticed by now I am not your usual theologian.
That is because I don’t see theology like most people do. Let’s be honest and admit most people see
theology as about as boring as pulling apart stamps that have stuck
together!
But that is because
most people don’t understand what theology is.
Any word ending in ology is a word that means the study of. Theology is
the study of Theos and that means it is the study of God. Only jaded and sad human beings could believe
studying God could be boring!
But that is not how I
see Theology. To me God is my Best
Friend in the whole of creation. This is
not to diminish God to just another friend or to human status, but to I see God
as the One who cares more about my well-being and Who desires my presence with
Him!
One of the most amazing
things about God is that He wants to be with me! No one has paid me a higher honor! God wanted to be with me so much that Jesus
came to die for me so that I would be able to come back and be with God!
But God didn’t do that
when I was nice or good! Jesus died for
me while I was yet a sinner! Jesus died
for me when I cared more for myself than I cared for Him or anything else! To be blunt Jesus died for me when I was a
sinful, selfish, bitter, evil young twit!
“Getting
to know You”
But how do we get
to know God? God makes it easy, because
He has to!
“"This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now
you, Belteshazzar, declare its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to
make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you."” (Daniel 4:18 NKJV)
“"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26 NKJV)
“11 "Now
when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not
worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. 12 "For the Holy Spirit will
teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."” (Luke 12:11-12 NKJV)
There is a
consistent theme in Scripture that the Holy Spirit of God will guide us to the
Truth and help us to know God. Only by
and through the Holy Spirit can Scripture come alive to the reader and not only
change the way you think but change the person you are!
A great way to be
open to receive guidance is what I call the Trinity prayer.
Before you open the Bible pray God would guide you into all He
wants you to learn and become.
As you read ask God to open your heart and mind to all God has for
you.
And after you are done ask God to help you apply and live out what
you have learned.
A
basic truth: You have not learned
something until it has changed your life and you live it!
So often our time
in the Bible is trying to mine for gemstones and all we end up with is
gravel! But if we come to the Bible
trusting that God will lead us to the full richness of Who God is than we will
receive the riches of God which are far beyond this world!
For indeed Bible
study is not to discover who we are or how we should live but to KNOW the God
who made us and knows what we are meant to become! Learning who you are begins by discovering
WHO GOD IS! There is no short cut, this
is the only way.
Revelation
Look at the last
book of the Bible. Some call it
revelations but that misses the point.
Listen to the title the book gives itself.
“1 ¶ The
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things
which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God,
and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.” (Revelation
1:1-2 NKJV)
God reveals Jesus
Christ to us and from that we can see who God is, what God has done, what God
is doing and what God will do! You
cannot know and understand the workings of God without Theology – without
knowing as much as you can about God!
And even that is only what God “reveals” about Himself to you through
Scripture with the tutoring of the Holy Spirit!
What does it mean to “know” God?
(Hint – in the KJV it says Adam knew Eve and they begat.)
What part does the Bible play in your daily life?
Why doesn’t God just reveal Himself to us totally when we become
Christians?
On another sheet list some of the things you know about God. Can you connect them to scripture?
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