Exploring the Divine
Imagine you could eat your favorite dessert and never get full.
On top of that, with every bite, you discover new flavors. As you continue eating this dessert, instead of gaining weight, it provides you with every essential nutrient your body needs. It is the perfect meal. You truly could have your cake and eat it too, as the saying goes.
That is the art of theology. Exploring who God is, discovering His wisdom, and beholding his majesty. Theology, which means the “study of God”, is truly a skill that must be increased. It is not only growing in our faith but deepening our understanding of the infinite being we worship. Taking a drink from the everlasting cup of life through God’s revelation.
Sadly, many don’t see it this way. For those who view theology as puffed-up knowledge, it has been treated like distasteful greens that their parents force upon them at the dinner table.
On the other hand, many of us, including myself, have approached God as a cadaver. A dead body was to be sliced open and inspected. Treating God as the object of our study to accumulate more basic knowledge.
In the same way, the Apostle Paul rebuked the Church of Corinth, for not maturing spiritually. They were “mere infants in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1-3).
This is where the roads divide. Either you no longer want anything to do with this dish and turn to junk food (Worldly Desires), or you submit to this elementary view and decide that studying God means to accumulate basic knowledge.
You may hear echoes of Paul’s rebuke toward the Corinthians, that they are “babes in Christ” (NKJV), still needing milk. Unable to handle grown-up food. The misconception with this principle is that Paul is urging for more knowledge. That’s exactly right. What he is calling them toward is spiritual maturity that is deepening their understanding of God’s revelation. In simple terms, embrace the exploration of God’s depth.
A professor of mine described the term theology as “God-Talk”. Where he got this term from, I’m not exactly sure, but It is a beautiful way to describe the act of theology. God is not a cadaver on a table to be sliced open and inspected. He is a living God who speaks and moves through us. The only right way to do this is to listen and submit ourselves as the ones needing inspection from the doctor of our souls.
Psalm 139:23–24 (NIV)
“Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Theology is meant to engage in conversation with the living and personal God of the universe – whether it’s through prayer, His word, praise, or creation. He has revealed himself in many ways to not only know him personally, but enjoy it deeply. It is a journey,
