If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ve probably noticed that theology is very important to me. I spent five years at a Christian college studying theology. I read about theology in my free time. I write about theology for the blog. I post about theology on social media. I follow theologians on Twitter and Instagram. When I moved a couple years ago and was looking for a new church, the church’s theology was one of the most important things for me to consider, and I love it when pastors teach about deep theological concepts on Sunday mornings.
I enjoy theology, and it’s something that comes natural to me. However, something that is not quite so natural for me is worship. I’m a fairly analytical, non-emotional person. I don’t typically listen to a lot of Christian worship songs, but whenever I do, I don’t often raise my hands or tear up as I listen to impactful lyrics. While I enjoy a more contemporary worship service, my number one goal was not to find a church with all the lights and fog machines and an environment that evokes emotion. None of these things are necessarily bad. I’m just more of a “thinking” person rather than a “feeling” person.
Yet, focusing solely on theology and neglecting worship can lead to pride and hypocrisy and needing to always be right. On the other hand, focusing solely on worship and neglecting theology can lead to ignorance and shallow faith and being deceived by false teachings. Theology and worship are equally important, and this is what Amy Gannett emphasizes in her new book, Fix Your Eyes.
Amy begins the book by defining what exactly theology is. She writes,
“Theology is the study of God; or, more accessibly put, it is the pursuit of the knowledge of God.”[1]
And everyone is a theologian! Even if you’ve never been to seminary, even if you’re brand new to church, even if you’re not a Christian. Everyone engages in theology because everyone has thoughts and beliefs about who God is. What we believe determines how we act, and for believers, what we believe about God determines how we worship Him. And this is important because, as Amy states,
“The whole of the Christian life is worship of God.”[2]
If we want to worship God rightly, we must hold right beliefs about Him. This is what Amy helps us to do in Fix Your Eyes. She covers eight categories of systematic theology, beginning with the studies of God (theology proper, trinity, Christology, and pneumatology), continuing with the studies of the Christian life (soteriology, bibliology, and ecclesiology), and ending with the study of end times (eschatology). In each chapter, Amy digs into Scripture to see what God’s Word teaches us about these categories and reveals how the Bible’s teachings lead us to worship Him.
“When knowledge of God and worship of him work together as God designed, we will be Christians who know God and who love him.”[3]
And we can only know and love God truly when we fix our eyes on Christ.
Amy is one of my FAVORITE people to follow on Instagram (she’s one of those theologians I was talking about earlier), and I jumped at the opportunity to join her launch team for this book. She is so wise and down-to-earth, and Fix Your Eyes is the perfect addition to any Christian’s bookshelf. Whether you’re just starting to get your feet wet with theology or you’ve studied theology for years, this book is a fantastic resource to turn to when you want to learn and be reminded of the beautiful truths of God’s Word.
If you haven’t made a New Year’s resolution yet, I hope you will resolve to know and love God more in 2022 and fix your eyes on Christ throughout the new year.
*I received my copy of this e-book from Amy Gannett and B&H Publishing in exchange for participating in the launch team and giving an honest review.
[1]Amy Gannett, Fix Your Eyes: How Our Study of God Shaped Our Worship of Him (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2021), 4.
[2]Ibid., 9
[3] Ibid., 14.
