Get your theology in order before the phone rings

It will be 40 years ago in November when our phone rang at 5 in the morning.  It was my mom, nervously telling me that she could not get dad awake (she later told me that she knew that he was gone).  She thought she was calling my sister who lived a few miles away.  We were living more than 150 miles away. There is nothing like the phone ringing in the middle of the night to shock you.  It is inevitable that your phone will sometime ring in the middle of the night.  That is not the time to start getting your theology in order.

You may say I have a relationship with Jesus, I don't need a theology.  That is double talk.  Everyone has a theology whether they know it or not.  Theology is the views or opinions that you have of God.  Everyone has views of God based on their knowledge of their Father.

How well do you know your heavenly Father?  Jesus said "this is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ."  The word "know" used in this passage is the same word when it says that Joseph did not "know" Mary.  It means a very intimate knowledge.  Do you have an intimate knowledge of your Father.  How do you get to know Him?  Spend time with Him!  But, let him do the talking.  God tells us: "Be still and know that I am God".  To paraphrase this in today's terms, that means: "Sit down! Shut up! and Listen!"  We will never get to know Him if we do all the talking.

You say: "God never talks to me".  Yes, He does!  He wrote a whole book for you; but, you need to do the reading.  Start with the gospels.  Jesus told Phillip,  "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father".  If you want to know your Father's character and will, look at Jesus.  They are the same in character and Jesus always did His Father's will.  If you come up to a situation that you can't figure out, and don't know an appropriate verse,  think back to how Jesus handled the situation when He was on earth.  Since we are His body, we should do the same.


Start getting to know your Father BEFORE the phone rings, before your doctor uses the C-word, cancer.  Don't develope your theology based on your experiences or that of your friends' and family's experiences, or your feeling for that matter.  Too many people, including pastors base their theology based on experiences and tradition.  They interpret the Bible based on experience.  If no one ever got saved, would it change the fact that God would that none be lost, but that all come to a saving knowledge of Him?  I know pastors who have based their theology on "political correctness", making their message more palatable, not wanting to offend anyone.  Jesus and the disciples offended a lot of people, mostly the religious ones.  


GET TO KNOW YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER, INTIMATELY.  GET IN THE WORD.  BE TRUE TO THE WORD,  God will take care of the rest.