Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD.
Psalm 119:1

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Joshua 1:8

Have you ever pictured or defined yourself as a theologian? Theology is the study of God and God’s relation to the world, and a theologian is a student who studies God and His relation to the world.

What stands in your way to seeing yourself as a theologian?

For me, I (Jenn) realized a few years ago that I had never read the Bible in its entirety. So I spent a few years with that as a goal. I began and failed. Began and failed. Began again and failed again.

Finally, in 2019, I set the goal to read the entire Bible by June. I laid aside my perfectionism of how that would look. I let go of many of the requirements I had put on myself. It needs to be done in quiet. I can only read when I will not be interrupted. I must have my hot cup of coffee and a clear kitchen table. It must be done before anything else. I must read it (I can’t listen to it). And the list went on.

Instead, I let go of those things and the desire to have it look a certain way. I moved forward with my only requirement being I would begin with prayer and invite the Holy Spirit to move as I read His word.

• I read early in the morning.
• I listened to chapters while cooked or cleaned or folded laundry.
• I read while children played around me (or on top of me) and interrupted me frequently.
• I read in the afternoon.
• On days I was able to leave the house by myself, I read a few chapters before I did anything else.
• I read while I helped children with math.
• I iterated my reading plan several times, but I kept reading.

There was no silver bullet. There was no magic formula. There was simply the choice to show up, as Eugene Peterson says in a book title, “a long obedience in the same direction”. Choosing most days to read, at least a chapter or two. Giving grace for days I missed and jumping in again as soon as I could.

I didn’t finish in June. Or July. Or anytime that summer of 2019. By the end of October, I completed my last chapter. I celebrated!

And I didn’t stop. I continue to read and study weekly. (I now aim to read the Bible at least 6 days a week and to find at least 2 days per week to study in-depth what I read.) Finishing that last chapter, I was brimming with ideas and excitement to continue my study. I had finally embraced my identity as a theologian.

May God bless you today with an abundance of testimonies of His faithfulness surrounding you. As you approach the Word of God, may Holy Spirit enlarge your mind and spirit to receive His truth. May the unfolding of His Word bring you light. May you long after His commandments. May God be gracious to you. May your steps be steady, as you rest in His promises. Be blessed in Christ Jesus, who is the living Word. Amen.

[blessing based on Psalm 119:129-133]