⁷Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. 1 Peter 3:7 ESV

Last summer I spent a few weeks studying 1 Peter. It was my first time ever truly reading the book (though I read it twice for New Testament survey the previous semester) and this is a verse that really jumped out at me. The insight I gained had little to do with marriage, however.

The last part of the verse says, “so that your prayers may not be hindered.” I remember reading that and thinking, “what the heck does that have to do with husbands living with their wives in an understanding way?” In my head, prayer had nothing to do with how you lived; it was just something you did with God in your spare time.

As I meditated on it, though, it suddenly started making sense. If a husband is treating his wife as if she’s weaker and less significant, he has elevated himself in his mind. Essentially, he has pride. A proud person thinks they have it figured out, so why would they need God? And specifically, in this verse, why would they need prayer? It’s as if there’s a relationship between pride and prayer.

Then in the next verse, Peter gives a list of things believers should have, and what’s the last one? “a humble mind.” 1 Peter 3:8. The first step to improving your prayer life… is a humble mind. Humility is a precondition for a healthy prayer life. Humility acknowledges our dependence on God.

If you want to improve your prayer life, begin developing a humble mind. Whenever you’re tempted to make a decision with your interests first, put someone else’s interests first. It will not only improve your relationship with that person, it just might also improve your relationship with God.

I was having a conversation recently with a church leader I have the utmost respect for. We were talking about Bible schools, seminaries, and Christian education. During the conversation, she made a comment that was very interesting to me. She said in essence, “Most people who come into my office don’t want to talk about theology, they want to talk about their problems.”

The implication was that knowing where you stand on deep theological issues is great, but practically speaking, they won’t come up very often.

Shortly after this conversation, I was preaching a message to teenagers about obeying their parents.  The text I was using was Ephesians 6:1-3. Paul writes, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Ephesians 6:1-3 (ESV)

 On the surface, preaching a message about obeying your parents is about as easy as it gets. No need for Bible school, seminary, or Christian education. But as I prepared, I realized there was a big theological issue at stake. Does the promise associated with honoring your parents still apply today? It would be easy to get up and tell teenagers, “Listen, you should obey your parents because if you do you’ll live a long and prosperous life.” But is that what Paul meant?

I ended up landing on the fact that this promise doesn’t apply today. I can explain that some other time, but here’s the point of this post: Our theology will shape how we respond to life. Theology may not be directly related to most of your conversations, but your theology is indirectly affecting every conversation. Because of this, it’s crucial for us to know what we believe, and why we believe it. People may not be asking about theology, but they are asking theological questions… whether they know it or not.

How have you seen this play out? Have you had a time when you recognized theology’s importance?