a gap between our theology and our reality?

I've been thinking about this whole idea of there being a gap between our theology and our reality lately. One of the pastors at my church talked about it in a sermon recently and it's been in my head since then. I think because it's something I see and know can be there in my own life, and I think it is common in the lives of many followers of Christ.

How often do you find yourself thinking to yourself or saying to another person that you know something is true in your head, but you don't seem to believe it with how you live? I know I've been there a lot in my life. If you asked me about some things I could give you a lengthy list of Scriptures that talk about it and explain it to you clearly, but if you then move on to asking me how that works practically in my life I could have a problem, because there is a gap between my theology and my reality.

I would be the last one to discourage studying the Bible and theology and knowing what we believe and the Scripture that supports it. I love doing that kind of study. But, I'm beginning to see the huge danger that comes from doing all that study but stopping short of making the truth we learn through it a reality in our lives. God didn't intend for Scripture to just be something we gained head knowledge from; He intended for it to bring life-changing truth to us so that we would act on that truth. God doesn't want us to live with a gap between our theology and our reality. Our theology should impact our reality.

But, how do we do this? I could stop with my comments above and continue to leave a gap between our theology and our reality, but that's probably not going to fit too well with this blog. I feel like if I'm going to say that the gap shouldn't be there then I should get more practical too.

So, how do we close the gap between our theology and our reality? What does it look like?

To some degree this will look different for each person. But, I think the basics of it comes down to taking everything we learn and study about and asking ourselves the question: How does this apply to my life today, in the situations I'm in? What can I do to live this out? We need to finish our study with applying it to our lives.

In my own life recently, I have been studying faith and what it is and what it looks like. It's been a good study and it's been making me think a lot. It would be very easy to just study what the Bible says faith is and stop there, but that would leave a gap between my theology and my reality. Studying faith has been very relevant to things going on my life and the lives of some friends of mine., and I know there is a gap between what I could tell you about faith and what it looks like in my life. Closing this gap in my life during this study has meant that I don't just study faith, but that I make the choice each day to actually practice having faith in God. And for me, that means that I begin my day by declaring my faith, and I remind myself of it through out my day as situations come up where I'm tempted to doubt that God is there and has a plan. Rather than getting discouraged and deciding God doesn't care when it seems like something is going wrong, it means that I'm choosing to trust that God can still work through the situation for his good and to go to Him in prayer about it. It's not totally natural right now and definitely not always easy, but I know it's good.

So, where are the gaps between your theology and your reality? How can you take steps to close that gap?

reflecting on my time at Briercrest

So, last week I was back at Briercrest for the week. After over 4 years away it was interesting to be back in the community there. I was visiting my sister.

While I was there I took some time to just walk around the campus and the town and see what had changed and say hi to a few people I still knew who were around. As I walked down some of the familiar streets of the town and hallways of the school buildings I found many memories of the two years I spent as a student there coming flooding back. Those two years are filled with many really good memories of friends, classmates, dorm-mates, profs, classes I took that challenged me, chapels that encouraged me and spoke in to where I was at in life. Many of them things I had forgotten in the years since.

I know that my time at Briercrest was important to my life and my spiritual journey overall. But, until last week I had forgotten about many of the little things that have impacted the way I think or the way I do things. I'm beginning to think that sometimes it is those little things that are the most important. I may have forgotten in my day-to-day life about many of those little things, but when I do remember I realize they are what has impacted my life more than the big events that I remember.

Things like the friend who helped me to learn that sometimes it's OK to admit that you aren't "fine" when someone asks how things are going. Or the prof from a class who sees that you are not yourself that day and stops to ask what's going on and then through really listening and encouraging or challenging you, teaches you that they don't just say they care about their students, they really do care about them. And then, there's the roommates and close friends in the dorm who teach you how to live life with people authentically rather than putting up walls around those who aren't family.

Those seemingly little things in comparison to all the Bible, Theology, and other things I studied are what really influenced me during my time there. But, they're the easier ones to forget in some ways, because they just changed who I was. It's easier to remember the things I learned and that I use when I study the Bible with friends now. But it's the people who really changed me and helped me to grow, not the things I studied.

thanksgiving

So, it's the Thanksgiving weekend (or at least it is here in Canada), and it's gotten me thinking a bit about all that I have to be thankful for. There's so much. I, honestly, have been incredibly blessed. And I think I take most of it for granted a lot of the time - just by thinking so little of it as I go through life.

So, here's my list of just a few of things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend:
-an amazing immediate family (parents and sisters)
-an extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) who are great
-two absolutely wonderful roommates
-good friends
-one of the best jobs that I could possibly ask for
-the beautiful place in this world I get to call my hometown
-a great church family and opportunities to learn to use my gifts within that body

Just a few of many things that have come to mind this late at night (OK, I guess technically early in the morning, but I haven't gone to bed yet). Given time, I know there would be many more things I could add to that list. My guess is that your list would very quickly grow if you were to sit down and think about it for any length of time too.

Just by virtue of living here in Canada I have so much to appreciate and be thankful for. And I'm slowly learning not to just take it for granted all the time. Starting with this weekend and this blog entry - making a list of all those things and then taking time to thank God for all that He has blessed me with.