Practicality
June 19, 2009

“‘I’m afraid I’m a practical man,’ said the doctor with gruff humor, ‘and I don’t bother much about religion and philosophy.’

‘You’ll never be a practical man till you do.’ said Father Brown.”

- G. K. Chesterton

Theology. Philosophy. Doctrine. Belief systems. World views. To many people, such words define irrelevancies. “Life,” they say, “is about work and money and relationships and all the rest of it. I don’t have time for all that pie-in-the-sky mumbo-jumbo.”

But the fact is, until we understand what we believe and why we believe it, none of the rest of life makes sense. Consider: what you believe determines …

• Your choice of career and your attitude toward your job.
  
• Your desire for and your use of money.
  
• Your words, actions, and attitudes in all your relationships.

And the list goes on. The fact is, everything in life that you think, say, or do is based upon your theological or philosophical belief system. Read that again, slowly. Now, can you really say that thinking through what you believe is irrelevant? When what you believe determines all the subsequent nitty-gritty of life … how you act in it, and how you respond to it?

Are you going to go through life like a puppet on strings, not knowing why you do all that you do? Or are you going to choose carefully what you believe, so that you know exactly and for all time why you then choose to do all that you do and say and think?

• How well do you know your own theological or philosophical belief system? Why do you do the things you do, say the things you say, and think the things you think?
• Is your belief system your own, or have you simply accepted a belief system handed to you by your family, your church, or your society?
  
• If you have accepted someone else’s belief system without truly making it your own, take the time to examine it carefully: Is it a good and true belief system, supporting godly principles? If so, make the decision to purposefully take it as your own. Is it a belief system that is riddled with falsehoods, supporting worldly principles? If so, you will need to spend serious time and effort renouncing the lies and distortions and replacing them with God’s truth.