Read Jeremiah 1:5

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.
Before you were born I set you apart
and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5

Thinking theologically is a tough thing to do. It works against our human and horizontal perspective on life. Thinking vertically is a discipline few have mastered. We much prefer to live in the here-and-now realm, seeing life as others see it, dealing with realities we can touch, analyze, prove, and explain. We are much more comfortable with the tactile, the familiar, the logic shaped by our culture and lived out in our times.

But God offers a better way to live—one that requires faith as it lifts us above the drag and grind of our immediate little world, opens new dimensions of thought, and introduces a perspective without human limitation. In order to enter this better way, we must train ourselves to think theologically.

Once we’ve made the switch, our focus turns away from ourselves, removing us from a self-centred realm of existence and opening the door of our minds to a God-centred frame of reference, where all things begin and end with Him.

A prophet named Jeremiah was called by God to minister on His behalf. Jeremiah was afraid to accept the assignment because, from his perspective, he was too young, too inexperienced—simply too inadequate. The Lord silenced such horizontal thinking by telling Jeremiah that He knew him even before he was conceived and had set him apart even before he was born. God also promised to protect him and to deliver him and to use him mightily.

That started Jeremiah thinking theologically. God had decreed certain things. Jeremiah needed to obey without fear or hesitation. Hard times would surely come—all of which God would permit to happen. But Jeremiah could take great comfort in knowing that God would have His way in spite of the hardships ahead. God had called him and would protect him. And even the opposition Jeremiah would encounter (which God permitted to occur) would not stop or alter God’s plan (which He had decreed would occur).

I urge you to think theologically. By doing so, you will grasp the importance of both the decreed will of God and the permitted will of God.

Taken from The Owner’s Manual for Christians by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2009 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com