How Do You Approach Theology?

In Robert Reymond’s New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith he begins his section on the Doctrine of God with a quote from Donald Macleod. Maclead states:
“God is not simply a great sight, the object of speculative curiosity. The revelation of His glory and the whole theological process which legitimately follows from it is holy ground. We cannot stand as superiors over God or His Word. We may not coldly and detachedly analyse and collate the great self-revealing deeds and utterances of Jehovah. We may not theologise without emotion and commitment. The doctrine must thrill and exhilarate. It must humble and cast down. . . . Theology has lost its way, and, indeed its very soul, if it cannot say with John, “I fell at his feet as dead: (Rev. 1:17).”

I am frightened that indeed with us, a majority of the time, theology has lost its way among us because of the way we approach it. I fear that a great amount of time studying these things is for the purpose of staying up to par with others, wanting to prove to people that we are knowledgable in the “things of God” and His word, or wanting to better prove an argument. I myself have often approached theology with a heart that simply wants to show others that I am knowledgeable and do not just hold positions blindly. Now I know we should be able to go to scripture and show others why we believe what we say and practice, and that we should not ever hold a position blindly, but a question remains.

Do we really realize who we are dealing with when we study theology? Does who what we study enrapture and change us? We are dealing with the great, sovereign, holy God of all that ever was, is, or will be! We do not come to some finite person in history who did great things and was gone and now we can talk and learn about him. We come to the God who before anything as we know it was, existed eternally in perfect, loving relationship with Himself. The Father gave the eternal Son a bride, and the Son with the same will as the Father knew He would pay the bride price and buy her with His blood, bearing the sins of his people upon Himself and being crushed by the wrath of the Father for those sins. The Holy Spirit with the same perfect will knew he would come and regenerate the hard hearts of these people and give them faith in Himself. He has chosen a people, but he has not chosen them to be people who sit in front of a book proclaiming things about Himself and walk away as if it were nothing special. As John Piper has said, “God must be heralded, not just analysed and explained.”

This great God has revealed Himself to us in His word. He has also given us many people in history and currently to learn from. We must not waste this treasure in front of us by coming to it with wrong hearts and motives. The doctrines much change us, down to the very way we live our lives. Whether we are studying the doctrine of God, the work of Christ, the church, man, sin, the atonement, anything that the scriptures reveal to us, we must all seek to come with hearts that long for God and to be changed by Him. Theology must cease to be purely academic.

We will wholeheartedly agree that God is omnipresent, but do we act as if He is with us when we do all things? Do you live in the light that even as you read this you are in the presence of the one Holy God?
We will fight for the truth that God is sovereign over all things, but does this affect the way we pray? Does this affect how we react to all of the circumstances in our lives? When things don’t come about how we want or expect, do we believe this?

This kind of application should take place with every bit of Scripture, and any other book that helps to explain and apply it.
This can only happen by the power of God, so let us pray that we would be a people who are truly changed and exhilarated with the amazing truths that we learn about our great God, and all that he has revealed to us. This is a struggle I am sure we all have, so let us spur one another on to live this way, seeking to know God and His word more fully, and all to His glory. We must be always finding ourselves echoing the words of Paul:

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor? (Rom. 11:33-34)

(P.S. Thank you all for bearing with me, as I am not that great of a writer. I hope to improve in this and pray the Lord helps me to do so. Any helpful suggestions are fully welcomed. Love you guys.)