ROOTED - Tuesday, June 3, 2025
Matthew 22:37
37 Love the Lord your God with all your… minds.
Reflection: Catechism 102
Written By: Pastor Jesse Caro
I am going to guess that the most well-known catechism is the Westminster Catechism. It was developed by Scottish and English theologians in the mid 1600’s, intending to bring the Church of England and the Church of Scottland into greater theological agreement. In part, this catechism was intended to build on the Protestant Reformation in making clear doctrinal positions against the Catholic Church. The Westminster Catechism asks a question of a theological nature and then answers it. There are 196 questions and answers in this catechism (some of which we will work through over the next few weeks). Being such a large document, a smaller document narrows down the number of questions to 107. The larger is called the Westminster Larger Catechism and (not surprisingly) the smaller one is called the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Clever!
At Liberty University, in the 90’s, Kelly and I (rather than attend Thomas Road) decided to attend a church of our choosing (we were dating). I don’t remember how we found it, but she and I started attending a little “house church,” the name of which I cannot remember. It was a Presbyterian Church. One of the great memories I have of this small church was the fact that on Wednesday nights they would work through the Westminster Shorter Catechism. I was blown away and challenged with my own lack of biblical literacy, even though I was in Bible College/Seminary. I discovered later a truth: applying all of your mind into your faith is good, and proper, and spiritually beneficial. I did not do that much as a young person, which is totally understandable. The part I object to is the fact that I was not encouraged to do so. The Bible is deep and difficult to understand at times. But we must put our minds to the task and honor God with our intellect. God is not calling us to be smart… but he does call us to the discipline of loving him with all our minds.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, may we think deeply about all the glorious truths of the Word, even when it is hard and confusing. By the Spirit of God, instruct us and teach us your ways.