It's being what I call an "accidental theologian". This is a condition that can strike us at any time, in any place. It happens when we are confronted by a person or situation that challenges our understanding of life, and we react by theologizing based on what we think is right, or what we think people need to hear.
Now at first glance, you might think that there's nothing wrong with that; after all, we all give advice now and then, or we are called to comfort or encourage. But the main problem with being this accidental theologian is that we, you and me, are at the center. Period. Or more accurately, our opinions and thoughts about God become the foundation of what we think, say, or do. Sometimes we "accidentally" get it right - we say or do the right thing - but our hearts are not in the right place. The prophet Isaiah recorded God's response to this sort of behavior and its subsequent theology, when he wrote,
"The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?" says the LORD.
"I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
my soul hates.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds
out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
learn to do right!
(Isaiah 1:11-17a, NIV)
While our actions and behavior are important, they are ultimately no better than the condition of the heart out of which they flow. What then, we must ask, pleases God? Isaiah answers that question, too ...
learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.
"Come now, let us reason together,"
says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the best from the land;
(Isaiah 1:17-19, NIV)
Isaiah first points us to the problem ... ourselves: our own hearts and minds. When we trust in our own wisdom, when we trust in the religion of our own holy opinion, when we baptize our own thoughts as having some weight from on high, the things we say, no matter how well intentioned, or how pious sounding, will miss the mark. But then Isaiah points us back to God. In this regard, the Psalmist draws us even closer to the best place to root our thoughts. In Psalm 1, we read this ...
Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
(Psalm 1:1-3, NIV)
We are to avoid the counsel of the wicked (or giving wicked counsel!), or standing with sinners or sitting with mockers. Good advice. But avoiding the negative is not enough. More importantly, the Psalmist calls us to something more positive; he calls us to God's Word. We are to not only avoid doing evil, but we are to delight in God's word, taking up studying it, meditating on it.
By doing so, we are rooting ourselves, our "theology" in God's Word, His opinion. And we can have confidence in God's Word. The apostle Paul tells us that all Scripture is ...
... God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped
for every good work.
(2 Timothy 3:16, 17)
By rooting ourselves in God's Word, Scripture, we are "protecting" our theology from becoming "accidental". We are also protecting others - those whom we think we're helping, those who are not like us, not one of us, not us - from a theology that may be from the heart - our heart; not God's - but that ultimately doesn't lead to life. Paul calls us to do this very thing, this rooting ourselves in Scripture, where he writes,
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one
another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with
gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed,
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
him.
(Colossians 3:16, 17, NIV)
One key to this being rooted in Scripture, however, is that our actions as theologians must be guided by wisdom, God's wisdom. Anyone can pick up a Bible, open it up, and start quoting Scripture. But only those who seek to do so in and out of God's wisdom - given through God's Spirit - will wield God's Word properly. James, the brother of Jesus, and the over-seer of the Church in Jerusalem, had this to say about wisdom,
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all
without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must
believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown
and tossed by the wind.
(James 1:5,6, NIV)
But we're talking about a particular kind of wisdom. James goes onto clarify this idea of wisdom further, and how wisdom, as the ground in which our being rooted in Scripture lays, is the source of good theology. He writes,
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by
deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter
envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the
truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly,
unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there
you find disorder and every evil practice.But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.
(James 3: 13-18, NIV)
Living out of this second kind of Wisdom leads us to living out a theology that is pure (rooted in God's Word, not our own opinion), peace-loving (not feeling like we have to win every argument), considerate (kind), submissive (not having to assert ourselves or our own opinions), full of mercy (not trying to wound or blow our opponents out of the proverbial water), full of good fruit (see Matthew 5:1-12, and Galatians 5:22-23), impartial (we'll let God's Word be the deciding factor, not our own likes and dislikes), and sincere (we're neither trying to impress others, nor act or speak out of selfish motives). When we root our theology in God's Word through His Wisdom, we will be ministers of peace.
When we find ourselves in those times where we are called on to speak, whether it be on the scene of an emergency, when a friend asks us for advice, when someone asks what we think about a particular issue or topic, or when our child asks us what God means or is saying after we've read with them from God's Word, by knowing God's Word, by praying for God's Wisdom, we can have confidence that the theology we speak out of, speak from, is not at all accidental, but is rooted in the heart of God, and will serve His purpose in that situation.
What do you think?
