Why bother learning stuff?

Whilst reading the Bible and working my way through my reading plan I was struck by a poignant verse which Paul writes of in Philippians 1:9 - 10, it reads...''And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ''.

This year I have begun my study of Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology and I have successfully navigated my way into Chapter 13, which as far as I can remember is around 220 pages into the main body of the text. This has proved an rewarding task but arduous at the same time. Frequently I have asked myself, amongst all the other books and sermons and commentaries, why bother at all? Paul here puts the pursuit of knowledge in a wonderful frame of understanding. You learn that your joy made abound and be made complete, that you may experience joy and delight and gladness in the knowledge of your salvation and the things of God.

What further can be said of this short passage? Well firstly I would say that this passgae demands of us close scrutiny of ourselves...we must ask the question, why am I learning this, why I am pursuig this? It seems to me so often people learn for the sake of learning, especially in the field of theology and philosophy. Do we learn to to feel clever and appear more intelligent than the person next to us? Do we learn that we can prove prove people wrong and win arguments? Do we learn that we can manipulate people with our knowledge and influence them towards our way of thinking? We must keep our perspective firmly fixed on what Paul writes here, wto be filled with joy.

Secondly I believe it calls us to take a seriously the study of theology and to let that study fuel us in our worship and praise. We should be able to share in with the words of the Psalmist when he says...'The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul...the rules of the Lord are true...more to be desired than gold even much fine gold; sweeter also the honey and drippings of the honeycomb.' Do you truly value the words of Christ like that of sweet honey, do you long to devour and savour the words of God like a hungry man longs to devour a good meal at the end of a hard days work ?