I believe the greatest factor in developing maturity in a believer is their time spent engaging with scripture. If there is not a love for the Word of God in a person’s life, they will never do well at conforming their life to Christ. A believer must engage with the Word daily to become conformed to Christ’s image daily. However, on the flip side, I also believe there can actually be a danger in too much study of the Word, IF we do not connect it to real-life application!

God never called us to just know about Him. God calls us to know Him and then to bring other people into that relationship as well. That is the purpose for which He gave us the scriptures. That is the reason we study theology. It is applicational.

Knowledge of God is Not the Goal

Knowledge about God is great to have, and is a beautiful gift from God to us, but in our study of the scriptures, knowledge cannot become the end goal. Head-knowledge must lead us into deeper worship of the God of the universe. It should strengthen our faith and solidify our trust in who He has revealed Himself to be. And when that comes about in our life, it should lead us into an experience with Him!

When someone is first born-again, they will naturally burn with passion to learn all they can about God and will devote themselves faithfully to spiritual disciplines like study and prayer. There will also be a desire in them to share their newfound faith with everyone around them. As time rolls on, however, and some months or years pass, all-too-often these once-passionate new believers will transition to a stagnate church-goer. They will sit in church,  hear the sermons, learn all there is to know in small groups or Sunday school, and fill their head with knowledge about God; yet they lose their zeal to truly know God and reach their neighbor. As their head fills up, their hearts become indifferent.

I don’t know the cause of this problem, but the symptoms are obvious. We have whole churches that understand the depths of the gospel — that “understand all mysteries and all knowledge” as Paul would say — but it does not cause them to go deeper in their love for God and others, and they are essentially dying because of it. Or, again, as Paul says, they have “become nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).

Knowledge Must Affect Reality

Knowledge of God is meant to be a platform for Christians to take what we know by faith and make it a reality. We are to hear the promises God makes and learn about His character; to seek Him and pray, “let it be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and then to walk out the door and put hands and feet to that prayer.

We are to be living reflections of the Jesus we read about. When people see us, they should be seeing the effects of our theology put into action!

Everyone Has a Theology

Someone will no doubt read this post title and say, “I’m really not into theology and study, so this isn’t my problem.” This however is not true. Just because someone does not study the Bible does not mean that that person lacks a theology. Whether you study scripture or not, you do have beliefs about God, which will always lead to your actions concerning God.

If you truly believe that God is only a God of love and mercy, and never of justice and wrath, then you will never see a need to repent or tell others of the Cross of Christ.

If you truly believe that people are generally good, and it is just that God is too cranky, and out to get everyone, then you will avoid having a real relationship with Him.

The purpose of studying theology, then, is not just so that we have the right thoughts about God, but also that we might live rightly before this God.

Good Theology Must Be Learned

If you are a Christian, you must be devoting yourself to exploring the things of God. The scriptures tell us so many times, things like: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), or “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2).  The result is that you will be able “to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

I believe that it is important for every believer to invest time studying theology in the scriptures – things like the Trinity, or the “how” and “why” of salvation, or even things like the end times. We must realize, however, that this study is just the first step, not the last, in growing in Christian maturity. We must let the scriptures push us toward the God of the scriptures, so that we can become more like Him!

So what are you studying? How is it leading you in your relationship with God? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

(This post was originally published June 26, 2011. It has been revised and edited for reposting.)

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash