Embrace the Within no. 185

“Those who truly love me are those who obey my commands. Whoever passionately loves me will be passionately loved by my Father. And I will passionately love him in return and will reveal myself to him” (John 14:21 TPT).

The only cure for bad theology is good theology. And there is a lot of bad theology to unlearn. A lot of bad theology is within our own control. I am responsible for reading and studying His Word. I am responsible for having a relationship with Him. And through studying His Word and building a relationship with Him, I get the beauty of the Spirit revealing my own bad theology. And I have had to unlearn a lot of bad theology that led to a lot of confusion for me as a young adult. Bad theology led me to question a lot of things about Christianity. Bad theology took me on a long journey outside of His Word and a personal relationship with Him. Bad theology led me to a lot of questions that could have been easily answered with good theology. BUT I wasn’t ready for good theology.

“The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 8:14 TPT).

I had to be ready for good theology and that took a lot of time for me. I had to go down a lot of paths and side quests until I finally cracked open The Bible myself and started studying. I was content in just taking everyone else’s word for what The Bible meant. I had read good chunks of The Bible BUT I never really took responsibility for reading it and making my own decisions. I was suffering from outsourcing my theology to other people. And that isn’t what God wants. He wants a personal relationship. He wants me to be so interested in Him that I undertake the accountability to actually reach out and try to get to know Him. And that isn’t getting done one day a week. That isn’t getting done in snippets of scripture. That isn’t getting done in podcasts. I have to start dating God. I have to start spending time getting to know Him. I have to learn that all first hand. I can’t take the word of other people for that.

“But if we freely admit our sins when his light uncovers them , he will be faithful to forgive us every time. God is just to forgive us our sins because of Christ , and he will continue to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 TPT).

There was a lot to unlearn about God that I had to work through over those first couple months. And there is probably still a lot of unlearning I have to go through. BUT it is a process of cleansing and sanctification that we can walk together as a body in The Christ, however, one we ultimately only walk with Him. And I enjoy the idea that I wasn’t wrong about my problems with theology in my salad days. I had some really bad theology. BUT I found the cure for that bad theology. And it involves denying myself, taking up His cross, and following Him obediently. I can only do those things if I work on my relationship with God through the example of Jesus.

“Jesus explained, ‘I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Life. No one comes next to the Father except through union with me. To know me is to know my Father too. And from now on you will realize that you have seen him and experienced him’” (John 14:6-7 TPT).

I am going to keep focusing on the example Jesus provides of who the Father is. Through understanding Him and walking in His example, I get to become a better representative of His Kingdom. He is the Truth. And knowing the Truth is the best way to get to know God.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH