Nothing is more practical than good theology. “Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives,” writes J.I. Packer in his classic book Knowing God. “The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.”

Driving on the Gardiner through downtown Toronto, I felt overcome as I started at the skyline. “These buildings stand!” I told my wife. “A small piece of land is strong enough to hold all of this up.”

She stared at me like I’d been in the sun too long. I don’t blame her. Sometimes we forget to marvel at everyday wonders like 72-story buildings or massive airplanes in the sky.

They’re in the process of building seven new condominiums steps away from where I live. I’m always amazed at how long they take to dig. The most important step in building a skyscraper takes place before you even see the structure. The most important step is anchoring that building to its foundation. If that building has a strong foundation and keeps its center of gravity below the ground, it will never topple.

The same applies to us. We need a foundation, an anchor, that will help us stand.

Crucially Important

We tend to think of theology as a hobby for seminary students, or as a pastime for people who like to argue. This view leads us away from a careful study of doctrine. We want something practical, not necessarily doctrinal.

But nothing is more practical than good theology. “Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives,” writes J.I. Packer in his classic book Knowing God. “The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.”

We’re all theologians, either good ones or bad. Bad theologians make guesses about the world and how it works, mostly adopting the answers that culture assumes are true. We build our lives on these guesses. Most of the time we’re not even aware that we’ve constructed a theology by grabbing pieces of cultural driftwood. To the extent that we do this, we misunderstand God and the world and damn ourselves to the tyranny of our own judgments and values.

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