Theology is primarily seen as the activity of professors and pastors, and occasionally a world that is entered into by normal people on Sunday mornings. But theology isn’t primarily an academic exercise and theology isn’t primarily about Sunday mornings. Good theology matters on Monday morning.
Your theology, whether you even realize it or not, shapes what happens in your daily life not just in your “spiritual” activities. Theology shapes the way we live out our faith in our careers, in our families, and even in our communities. The way we understand the grace of God shapes the identity we have which in turn also shapes the way we see and treat others. The way we understand God’s calling shapes the way we do our work and the way we understand the roles we play in the various spheres of life.
@@If your theology doesn’t impact your normal, ordinary, everyday life - it might be time to abandon your theology.@@
When we think of theology, we tend to quickly enter into the realm of dead guys and long words and things that are hard to comprehend. And while those things have a place and are even enjoyed by nerds like myself, theology is much more simply the study of God. Which means that whether you consider yourself one or not, you are a theologian.
I love how R.C. Sproul said it:
“No Christian can avoid theology. Every Christian is a theologian. Perhaps not a theologian in the technical or professional sense, but a theologian nevertheless. The issue for Christians is not whether we are going to be theologians but whether we are going to be good theologians or bad ones."
So what does a theology for Monday mornings look like?
Embracing Repentance
Martin Luther in his famous 95 Theses suggested that the entire life of believers should be repentance. When the scriptures speak of repentance in places like Acts 3:19, "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” this becomes less about an event and more about a way of life.
The Christian life is a life of repentance. It is a repeated returning to God, confessing our failures to do what is right and a clinging to the promise of forgiveness. This isn’t just a Sunday morning activity. May we free confession & absolution from Sunday mornings and embrace it in the the daily rhythms of our life.
Embracing Vocation
Gustaf Wingren once wrote, “God doesn’t need our good works but our neighbor does.” Theology for Monday mornings is shaped by the significance that passively, before God we receive everything we need in Christ. And because of that righteousness we have in Christ we are freed to love our neighbors in whatever places that God has placed us. The works we do in our jobs, in our homes, and in our neighborhoods don’t score us points with God. The works we do benefit our neighbors, which is exactly what they need.
A theology that impacts our normal, everyday life gets out of the clouds and into reality of our daily lives. It declares to us the promises of Jesus in the midst of the mess of life and it calls us to embrace our vocations for the sake of the people around us.