Ladies and Theology

I just finished my second reading of Jen Wilkin's None Like Him.  If you recall, I did a book review of this at the beginning of the year.  I appreciated this book so much that I wanted to do a second reading of it.  This time, I was also blessed with a group of ladies who read along with me and discussed it together.  After my second reading, I like this book even more.  There is just so much theological truth to it! 

As a leader of ladies Bible studies and the one who is responsible for selecting the material we study, I often find myself at the Christian bookstore (online, usually) browsing through the studies geared towards women.  I flip through the best-sellers, the hot new releases, and the books I have heard recommended by others.  More often than not, I am disappointed by the lack of depth to these studies.  Many are mainly self-help books with Scripture sprinkled throughout.  I get it.  We ladies are drawn to these touchy-feely studies.  By divine design, we tend to be emotive rather than logical.  That is a good thing!  But sometimes, we need to put forth the hard work and feed that weaker logical drive within us.  By doing so, we will be better grounded, better equipped to face everyday life.

The irony of studying theology is that this logical study drives our emotional response.  The Holy Spirit actually uses it to transform how we think about ourselves and therefore how we live.  As Scott Sauls writes, "Loveliness, or holiness, or the fruit of the Spirit, or whatever we are going to call it, will not grow in us when we seek it directly.  It is not fruit we should be seeking; it is Jesus".  Choose to seek Jesus.  Choose to study Him.  Put forth the hard work of thinking through the things taught in Scripture.  It truly is life-changing.

Theology does not have to be dry or boring.  It does not have to be something only scholars dig into.  By God's grace, He has revealed Himself to the everyday person like you and me.  But it does take effort, and there are many great resource available to assist us in our learning.

Full disclosure:  I am not an expert on this by any means.  I struggle as well.  This hard work is fairly new to me.  But it is completely worth the effort.