In Ligonier’s TableTalk magazine this week in an article entitled, ‘How Much Should I Study Doctrine?’ we are introduced to Jen Wilkin, author of ‘Women of the Word.’ She relates how doctrine became important to her and the struggles along the way.
She was a mum with 4 kids under the age of 5 when she realised she could barely find time to read the Bible let alone give absorb books on theology (studying the doctrine taught in the Bible). And that in this she was not alone, recognising that one’s day job, whether its checking inventories or chasing toddlers, conspires to keep you from devoting much time in reading the Bible and good Christian books.
Things have moved on from those toddler days but she still knows the pressures that come into our daily lives, and that as a Christian who is also a wife and mother of the importance of personal biblical literacy and prayerful reflection.
She stresses the importance of not replacing the study of the Bible with study about the Bible, but also of regular honest assessments of our personal schedules and their legitimacy. There are times when life is busier than others, so be flexible as to the amount of time one can give but make time, even if it means reducing the amount of time for TV, social media, books or movies – all of which teach their own belief-shaping doctrines.
‘We are each simply called to be faithful with what the Lord gives.’
She tells about two turnarounds she had to make in her life, where she replaced backward approaches to Bible study with better ones which resulted in a better Biblical literacy as well as opened the way to good theology.
The first was to allow the Bible to speak of God. She had been approaching the Bible as a book about her, a book answering the question “Who am I?” more than “Who is God?”
The second turnaround was thinking that she should allow her heart, rather than her mind, to guide her study of the Bible. She let her feelings dictate what she read and how she read it instead of first allowing it to transform her mind.
She came to understand that we cannot love what our minds do not know.