Wake Up, Look Up

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hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and in today's episode we're asking the

question will you please read some

theology this is actually prompted by an

article I read this week in the Atlantic

about the need human beings have for

deep thinking uh bear with me a little

bit on the brain chemistry stuff here

but uh deep thinking as opposed to kind

of everyday regular shortterm thinking

actually involves a different part of

your brain uh deep thinking is reserved

mostly for questions that are not

quickly solved questions that your brain

actually has to wrestle with questions

you might not even be able to find an

answer for those questions live on the

right side of your brain they engage

parts of your brain that everyday

thinking just doesn't need uh not only

that that when you engage in deep

thinking it actually changes your brain

chemistry that wrestling with deeper

questions actually makes your body act

differently behave differently on a

physical and biological level and the

difference there is actually positive

for you meaning you get healthier when

you do deep thinking in fact the recent

Studies have said that there are two

questions in particular that produce

healthy right brain activity and those

two questions are what is my life's

purpose and is their life after death

that thinking about those two questions

actually makes you healthier than you

would have ever ever otherwise been had

you not asked those questions and in

fact when I say healthier here's what

those studies say that asking those

questions will actually result in a

higher level of intelligence in a in a

greater ability to do existential

thinking it will make you more naturally

curious and increase your mental

well-being that's a lot of positives

that come from taking a walk and

wondering about what the purpose of your

life is or by even laying in bed at

night and asking what happens to me

after I die and by the way those two

questions are theological questions are

the kinds of questions that the Bible

was designed to answer is it any wonder

that people made in the image of God get

healthier when they ask the questions

God has wanted them to ask when they

wrestle with the questions that God

himself in Jesus has provided the

answers for listen I see this

spiritually all the time I'm sit down

with anemic Christians Christians whose

faith and mental and emotional

well-being is withering who can't

remember the last time they spent time

reading the Bible or reading a book

about how to understand the Bible and I

spend time with Christians who are

flourishing who are healthy and vibrant

and they're they can't stop telling me

about the books they're reading I I see

this in the church all the time listen

God chose to communicate with us through

a book which means God is telling us

that reading and thinking deeply about

theology is is good for us if God had

wanted to make the Bible a podcast or a

movie or a miniseries he could have but

he didn't and there are implications for

that I think this is why the psalmist in

Psalm 19 does such a good job of

stressing the value of reading and

thinking about the scriptures in Psalm

19 he tells us that the heavens are

declaring the glory of God he says you

can go for a walk and see the beauty of

Nature and see the creativity of the God

who made nature but it's the scriptures

he says that are finer than gold or

sweeter than honey because it's the

scriptures who tell us who we really are

who God really is and what God is has

done and is doing and will do so that we

can have relationship with him I think a

lot of times Christians are waiting

around until life makes sense and they

feel healthy to indulge in some theology

but what if indulging in theology is

what actually makes life work if it's

what makes you healthy that's because

you're more than just a functional

machine to get through the day you are

actually made to ponder the Deep things

of life so I want to encourage you to

get in a Bible study to pick up a

devotional to read a theology book to

spend time in the Bible because doing so

won't just make you smarter it won't

just make you more theologically

equipped it will actually make you

healthier and happier that's what

science is telling us but it's also what

God has been telling us for thousands of

years hey thanks so much for watching

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