“Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone but carved into human lives—and we publish it.” (2 Corinthians 3:3 MSG)
In a quote taken from “The Pen & The Pad,” Nadine Smith wrote, “A theme is the general message or statement about a subject that all the elements of a story or a poem work together to develop. Without a unifying theme, a story contains only arbitrary events and characters. Theme functions as the understated but essential ingredient to make a story or poem meaningful.”
When you finished school, either at the secondary level or post-secondary level(s), you stopped buying “theme paper.” You felt you had reached your educational goals and developing themes, in many cases, was something you could leave in the past. Let me disagree with that position or conclusion.
As a Christian, you are a letter that anyone can read at anytime in your life. So, no longer can you just go through life, day by day, with an attitude of “come what may,” nor can we act like our freedom in Christ ;eft us free of responsibility. We have to live out our theme. You are thinking about that now, aren’t you? Good? What things entered your mind? What is your theme going to be today, tomorrow, and every day that the Lord has blessed your to see?
In Bible colleges, many courses and sometimes the entire curriculum is based on themes. I’m being resourceful today. No need to be really creative to get my point across. Listen! In a 1974 publication by Lewis Sperry Chafer and John F. Walvoord, “Major Bible Themes,” they listed fifty-two major Bible themes. Other authors have done the same.
These themes included: “The Bible: the Word of God, The Bible: inspired of God, The Bible: its subject and purpose,- The Bible: as a divine revelation, God the trinity, God the father, God the son, his deity and eternity, God the son: his incarnation, God the son: his substitutionary death, God the son: his resurrection,- God the son: his ascension and priestly ministry, God the son: his coming for the saints, God the son: his coming with his saints, God the Holy Spirit: his personality, God the Holy Spirit: his advent, God the Holy Spirit: his regeneration, God the Holy Spirit: his indwelling and sealing, God the Holy Spirit: his baptism, God the Holy Spirit: his filling, The dispensations, The covenants, The angels, Satan: his personality and power, Satan: his work and destiny, and Man: his creation.
The themes in this publication also include, Man: his fall, Sin: its character and universality, Salvation from the penalty of sin, Salvation from the power of sin, Four aspects of righteousness, Sanctification, Assurance of salvation Security of salvation Divine election, The church: her members, The church: her purpose and commission, The church: her service and stewardship, The church: her worship in prayer and thanksgiving, The church: her organization and ordinances, The church: the body and bride of Christ and her reward, The sabbath and the Lord’s day, The gentiles in history and prophecy, Israel in history and prophecy, Events preceding the second coming of Christ, The great tribulation, The second coming of Christ, The resurrections, The judgment of Israel and the nations, The millennial kingdom The judgment of Satan and fallen angels, The judgment of the great white throne, and The new heaven and the new earth.”
All that has probably moved you to want to study the word in search for some specific themes or to validate the scriptural themes you embrace. Good for you! As you study, you will read knowledge that finds its inspiration in God, and of course, your study will enhance the “publication” or display of your personal theme. Fifty-two themes! You surely cannot study all these in one sitting, but every time you study one of these themes, it will impact your life.
Yet for today, come up with a theme you will focus on as you go through the day. Make sure it is theological sound! The answer to the question, “What’s your theme?” should be clearly evident all day long as people “read you.” I will share my theme for this Thursday. It is “I know I’ve been changed.” And if asked for any reason about the legitimacy of my theme, I will share that my theme is theological sound by pointing to our closing verse. God be with you as you pick YOUR theme. It is going to be a great day for the cause of Christ! Be blessed!
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers and sisters.” (I John 3:14a NASB)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King