Theology: Are Your Beliefs Off-Kilter?
Theology–are your beliefs off-kilter? Or are they bringing you closer to Him?
Three decades ago, my personal beliefs dissed God and elevated self. This was my off-kilter theology. I was the center of my tiny universe and miserable. You see, my happiness meant the acceptance of others–girlfriends, teachers, parents, guys, and especially me.
God freed me from me. Read my freedom story, if you’d like. And he taught me theology.
What’s Theology?
Theology is the study of God. This sound terribly boring to most people, but did you know that what you believe about God is the most important thing about you? And about the direction of your life?
When your beliefs line up with biblical truth, you’ll experience contentment even when your circumstances are cruddy. When your beliefs are based on the world’s idea of happiness, including
- more money
- more success
- more acceptance
- more security
- more, more, more
. . .then you’ll experience unhappiness or a temporal and lonely kind of happiness dependent on getting the next happy high. This false happiness promises to deliver. It doesn’t. Instead, you receive misery.
God wants to give you peaceful contentment.
[The Lord says,] I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” Jeremiah 31:25, ESV
You’ll receive peaceful contentment–whether you’ve been a Christ follower for a month or many years–when you believe God is who he says he is. You and I could zero in on a number of truths about him. For now let’s pick one that trips up many women: goodness.
God Is Good Even. . .
. . .when your husband cheats on you, your toddler becomes very ill, you lose all your savings, horrible childhood memories surface. God is good in manageable circumstances like a flu or when a close friend forgets your birthday. What difficult circumstance do you face now? Does it concern family, a shattered dream, health, or something else?
In counseling someone I’ll call Marilyn, I discovered that her core theology was tangled in a misunderstanding of the word “good” and how it applied to her everyday life. She felt frustrated over Romans 8:28 and its promise that all things work together for good.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
A Christian since her teens, Marilyn had misinterpreted the meaning of this verse and couldn’t practically apply it to her difficult, loveless marriage. She had a simplistic view of Romans 8:28, thinking that since she loves God, he must change her husband into a selfless man since this would be good. Most assuredly, selflessness is good. But this isn’t the meaning of the verse.
Marilyn and I explored this verse together like theologians.
We discovered that the “good” is this: God is works in us to make us more like Jesus. The next two verses showed that our thinking was on the right path. So we read Romans 8:28-29 too.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
As Marilyn’s theology aligned with biblical truth, she came to accept that God might not change her husband–or make her healthy or wealthy–and she learned something something wonderful: God was changing her and she hungered to know him better.
Let’s Make It Personal
Is your theology off-kilter? It’s skewed whenever you elevate your desires and turn them into must-have needs. Yes, God gives us good things; however, sometimes we twist what is good into an idol.
An example: sex. Sex is a gift of God to be shared by a husband and wife in marriage. When the gift of sex becomes a craving for porn, it is now an idol.
When desires become needs, you expose that your life is more about what you want than what God wants. Here are a few questions posed by biblical counselor, author, and speaker Paul Tripp:
- Desire: “You should do _____ for me.”
- Need: “You will do _____ for me.”
- Expectation: “I expect you to do _____ for me.”
- Disappointment: “You didn’t do _____ for me.”
- Punishment: “You didn’t do _____ for me so I’m going to make you pay in some way.”
You know God deserves your unadultered love because he not only created you but also loves you and knows what’s best for you.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:21
You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3
What idols do you possess? Did you know that they often fall into the areas of love, security, and significance? Do you want to be free of them?
Do what Marilyn decided. She chose to readjust her thinking into a God-centered way of looking at her life rather than sticking with her old way of thinking. Her old way led to misery. Her new way opens wide the door to true happiness.
Hope for Your Heart,
