Diary of a Broken Vessel

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
-Proverbs 1:7

I love to read -a lot-. I have a good amount of books onboard the ship with me. My favorite books are those on Christian theology. Systematic Theology, Church History, Church Fathers, Apologetics, Bible Commentaries, Bible Surveys, etc., etc. I have access to and own a decent size libary dedicated solely to Christian Theology.

I haven’t read all of them all the way through. I read a little here and a little there. I spend a week on one topic then move on to another. However, for years that is what I solely focused on. And perhaps there are some that would say “Hey good job, that’s really great,” to be honest with you it really isn’t…at least not to the point that I took it.

If you have the opportunity to study good solid theology and history and the like, do it, but don’t do it like I did. I got to a point where I could quote various authors and church fathers and professors and references and so on and so forth. I looked intently at what these well studied, well educated, and authorative people had to say about the Bible and Faith. You know what I couldn’t do? Quote you many Bible verses.

These sources and reference materials became idols in my life. I prided myself in knowing all of these scholastic things relating to Christian theology. I held these books and scholars and historians at a level equal to or -God forgive me- greater than the Bible. I was focused more on what these things had to say about the Bible I was over what the Bible had to say about itself.

God used two things to pull me out of that idolatry. The first was my former Chaplain who challenged me to fall in love with the Word of God. To study what the Word of God says about all things. The second was a sweet Japanese couple who wanted to convert me to the Jehova Witness faith.

This whole problem first started when I grew complacent with God’s Word. I thought I had heard all there was to hear, read all there was to read. I got to a place where I stopped seeking answers to my questions in Scripture and began seeking my answers in what other people had to say about what the Scriptures had to say about my questions. My former chaplain saw this and challenged me. He prodded me to look back to God’s Word. It is the best thing he could have possibly done for me.

When I took chaps’s challenge I found myself again falling in love with the Word of God. It was vibrant, alive, and spoke for today, yesterday, and tomorrow. I began looking back at my old word studies in Greek and Hebrew. I saw a stirring in my heart; a giving up and over of my life back into God’s hands.

The JW’s in their attempt to convert me would quote all manner of sources, and I saw myself in them as they held these various sources to a degree equal to or higher than the Bible, and it really convicted my heart. I found myself turning back to God’s Word to see what it held for my life.

The beginning of knowledge and wisdom start with the fear of the LORD. I believe that the God of the Bible is real and has a few things to say, and there are consequences if I fail to listen. I didn’t know, or I didn’t read that part are not acceptable answers. Everything God wanted to reveal to me about Himself can be found in Scripture. Yes, the world around me, and even my own heart, declares that there is a God (Romans 1:19-21), but His Word makes it clear who God is and our relationship with Him (John 17:6).

While studying all of the various aspects of Christian theology is useful and wonderful, it means nothing compared to what God’s Word says of itself and of Him and of us and of everything around us. Does it help us to better understand? Sometimes, yes. The moment, however, that any author, or professor, or pastor, or anything or anyone starts to teach contrary to the Scripture, you are no longer studying Christian theology but heresy.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
-Proverbs 1:7