This is a post that I’ve been toying around with in my mind for a good while now. The bulk of my Internet excursions are normally spent meandering around the faith-based blogosphere reading what other Christians of all sorts write about. When I initially decided to dedicate my life to living for God through His Son, I had a great many questions about what sort of things were expected of me from God and became a prolific reader not just of the Bible, but of other Christian writings as well as of Christian blogs.

Because of the huge amount of theological misinformation that I had received as a child growing up in a religious cult (see Armstrongism), followed up by a number of years in various forms of Christian fundamentalism, the bulk of my early readings after committing my life to Christ involved theology. I read a lot of heavy books in an attempt to dispel the ghosts of my cult childhood and fundamentalist youth. I also spent a great deal of time on a large number of Christian websites and blogs, especially those of the more respected theological folks. I wanted to try to ascertain which branch of Christianity and which theologians had the most valid arguments for Biblical truth so that I could try and shape my Christian worldview correctly.

Along the way, and really only in the last few months, I have discovered a curious anomaly in my readings. Instead of reading only those blogs by the theological types who, by the way, are about ninety percent male, I have started browsing a variety of other Christian blogs. A number of these blogs are by various women bloggers who I have loaded in my Google Reader. At the same time, I have read through a couple of excellent books of a devotional nature by Catherine Marshall (A Closer Walk: A Spiritual Lifeline to God and Something More). Additionally, I recently began reading “The Imitation of Christ By Thomas a Kempis”. Most of what I’ve been reading lately barely touch on deep theological matters, but are more of a devotional type of writing.

What I have found is a whole lot of Christian writers who could care less whether or not Paul wrote the Pastorals or if the Pericope Adulterae was in the original transcripts. They are not concerned one way or another whether Calvin was right or if it was in fact Arminius. These writers might be aware of the Young Earth Creationism/Evolution/Creative Design debate, but they simply focus on practical ways to live out their Christianity rather than worry about how old the earth really is.

Instead of worrying about all of these debatable things, they simply write about loving God, loving neighbor, and trying every day to try to be just a little bit more like Christ.

I’m not quite sure why, but the majority of these “devotionals writers” tend to be women. I find myself wondering if women are perhaps more “wired” to see things that way than we men are. I am finding that many women are simply more accepting in their faith than a lot of us men and don’t feel the need to ask a whole lot of questions that in the long run really don’t matter much.

Also, I think that as men, many of us (I am speaking for myself here) are nuts-and-bolts types of people. We often want to take things apart to see how they work. Many women on the other hand often seem content just to enjoy the beauty of a thing, not really wondering what is behind the beauty or how it got there, they just know and enjoy it for what it is.

My wife is that way. When she is reading her Bible, she is seeking for God to speak to her. She finds scriptures that give her strength and hope, and is not so very concerned about what the context of the scripture is about. She is not trying to figure out if we Methodists are more right than the Baptists down the road, or if our charismatic friends ought not to be talking in tongues. In fact, although I know that she has come to love the Methodist Church (after growing up Southern Baptist), she recently told me that she could really worship just about anywhere (except the cult that I grew up in!). Quite often I wish that I could have her simple faith instead of questioning everything as I do.

Of course, I know that writings of a devotional type is not an exclusively “woman” thing. My current book, “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas Kempis, is definitely not a theological tome. To be sure, he tries to be theologically true to his beliefs, but by and large, the thrust of the book is of a devotional nature. Instead of writing about theology, he focuses primarily on how to practically apply the teachings of Christ in an attempt to be more Christlike…to “imitate Christ.”

Now, I am not discounting Theology or theologians. And there are also some fine women theologians that I have encountered, both professional as well as lay(women). There always has been and always will be a need for people who dedicate their lives to studying the Bible in an attempt to apply doctrinal truth to our ever changing culture.

However, as I continue down my path of trying to imitate Christ my own self, I am beginning to realize the need to balance my search for theological truth with a quest for ways of practically applying that truth. Head knowledge will only take you so far. There has to be heart knowledge as well. As Thomas Kempis puts it, “An humble knowledge of thyself is a surer way to God than a deep search after learning.”

I’m sure that I will continue to ponder after theology and my Amazon Wishlist will continue to grow and grow. However, I’m beginning to realize that I need to add more balance to my readings. Another quote that I ran across in my Kempis reading comes to mind;

“If my knowledge embraced the whole of creation, what good would it do me in God’s sight? It is by my actions that He will judge me”

I consider myself an egalitarian, and believe that God has equal use for men and women in His Kingdom. With that said, I am also seeing how we (men and women) quite often complement each other in our spiritual walks. I am coming to realize that instead of constantly attempting to gain knowledge and dissecting my faith, there are times that I should be taking my wife’s lead and simply admire the simple beauty of it and seek ways to incorporate that beauty in my day-today life.