Francis Schaeffer’s book by this title echoes a powerful and recurring theme throughout the Bible.  God did not reveal Himself as an academic exercise.  That’s not to say we shouldn’t study the Bible, we should.  But in our study, if we miss the point that God revealed Himself to make a difference in our lives, we have missed the point.  He wants to help us change in the direction of becoming the people He created us to be.  The instructional elements of the Bible (“doctrine”, if you will) are the underpinning that leads us to the final result: “What difference should this make to me?”  Every epistle of Paul contains a didactic part, and a pragmatic part – a teaching section and an action section – and the purpose of the teaching section is to produce the desired action.  A lot of folks struggle to understand doctrine, and when they reach that conclusion, they stop.  But that’s only half of the message. What God has revealed about Himself should change how we live our lives.  That was Schaefer’s conclusion…and it should be the ultimate goal of our study of the Bible’s truths, as well.