First Things First

That title sounds like a great way to start the New Year, doesn’t it?  I am living out some of that by setting the goals I have written down for this year.  It helps me sort through priorities for my life and that of my family.  But how willing are we to do what it takes to put first things first?  Are you willing to give something in order for something better to be given to us?

It is never easy.  But we may need to ask ourselves how teachable we are.  When I was in a local bookstore the other day, I saw this view and knew I needed to make a picture.  So I took the photo because I thought there was a great lesson I could learn from it.  Do you see it?  Let me clarify what I see.

We all know we can learn a lot from books, and if you know me by now, you know I love to read!  But the real story I believe is found in the signs above the bookshelves.  Do you see the first sign?  It says Theology.  Let’s think about that for a moment,  Theology by definition according to Merriam-Webster means:

• 1.   a system or theory or study of religious faith, practice, and experience.
• 2.  The study of God and of God’s relation to the world.

I am not talking about the theology of denominations.  I’m talking about a study of what we believe and why we believe it.  It’s like building on a good foundation.

The next sign you see is Christian Living.  An abundant life , full of purpose, potential, showing love, and being a joy-giver, along with challenges that will surely come our way… all part of Christian living.  On the other hand, living this way, we can also receive “pleasures for evermore” scripture tells us.  We are fortunate that He has given us a Bible to show us the way through this life we live.

Are you getting a clearer picture?  We have to have our belief system in place through our level of faith, practice our faith and relate it through our experience.  We have to study the Word in order to KNOW our God, so that, we can have a relationship with Him.  If we know and study the Word, we then we will build on our theology of belief and that in turn gives us the foundation for living the Christian life.  We can’t skip what we believe and why we belief it and go straight to Christian Living.  Why?  Because we have no solid foundation from which to believe and live.

We have too many trying to live the Christian life but with a shaky foundation.  In that a case, We have  a hard time sharing what we believe with someone for a couple of different reasons.

•  One being that we don’t don’t know enough of what we believe.
• The other is, we don’t want to stand out as being radical or fanatical.

However, if we have a good foundation, then it becomes easy to share what we believe and to live by it.  I don’t think we can have one without the other.  Having a foundation is very important to build on. I am very thankful for the foundation that I was given growing up and in my adult life..  It gave me confidence in what I believe.  If we have a strong experience with God and a deep understanding of how He wants us to live, then we can live the Christian life with confidence.  We will then be excited to share what He has done in our life.  Let the Light shine down your path to understanding.

Isn’t fun how God will use the simple things to remind us of a powerful lesson?  Sit for a while and ponder these thoughts.  Ask yourself,  “What is my theology of belief?

Until next time…

~JoAnn