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By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible (Hebrews 11:27).
The only person who can accurately answer the “why question” after you fall is God. The Lord is your best answer when trouble comes, and if you do not know Him well, your suffering will be more complicated than it needs to be. The most oft-repeated appeal in the Bible, either explicit or implied, is “fear not.”
The Lord is always calling His people to trust Him. You cannot fully trust someone you do not know, which is your call to elevate your theology–the study of God–above all else. If we could export one thing to our children, we would choose theology as the main thing, and that is what we do.
We want them to walk into their adult lives knowing God, and out of that knowledge, our hope is for them to enjoy every good thing the Bible offers to theologically-centered God-lovers. If they don’t have sound theology—understanding God, what will grow out of their lives will not be the best it could be. I’m not talking about having Bible knowledge, as in knowing the facts of the Bible. I’m talking about knowing God.
We want our children to know the Lord, His person, character, attributes, and all the things He can do. Our hope is when real-life problems confront them, they will be able to endure because they can “see” their great invisible God. We spend a lot of time teaching our children a sound theology.
Here is a list of some of the terms they have been learning. The list goes from left to right as it moves through a sequence of who God is to what He does for His children. They first learned the term theology, and they are becoming theologians. Then they began learning about God.
Theology, Theologian, Polytheism, Trinity, Sovereignty, Omnipotent, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Transcendence, Holy, Immutable, Hypostatic Union, Redeemer, Resurrection, Gospel, The Fall, Depravity, Sin, Idolatry, Regeneration, Adoption, Justification, Sanctification, Repentance, Worship
The weakness of too many Christians is their lack of theological depth. Nobody taught them theology; their parents didn’t teach them; their youth groups didn’t instruct them. They were actively part of a church but not practically engaging theology. Some parents and youth leaders seem to have a “theological timidity,” as if children are too ignorant, immature, or disinterested to learn theological truths about God.
Our kids are encouraged and motivated when the “big people in the room” let them into their adult world of big words like the hypostatic union. They perceive our respect, love, care for, and trust in them, which creates an eagerness to learn more about God. The problem is not their lack of capacity to learn but our lack of awareness regarding the opportunity before us and the lack of intentionality to step into that opportunity.
Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.
In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).