When operating in a given environment, it is important to have a both a way to understand the information you are encountering and a way to act on that information. This holds true at any given scale. You must not have one without the other.
A parallel could be drawn to the balance of faith and works in our Christian walk. James writes: “faith without works is dead,” yet Paul writes “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” In other words, going all in on one to the exclusion of the other is worthless. This is not to say that both are causes of salvation. I wholeheartedly ascribe to the maxim “By grace through faith.” Yet neither faith nor works are in the immediate sense more or less important than the other. In fact, you cannot grow as a Christian without both.
Similarly, worldview and application must be held in unison. Without an understanding of your own worldview, how can you effectively apply that worldview? Thus, it is important to construct an ordered system for yourself under which to operate. Here is my brief attempt to reconstruct the system under which I attempt to live:
Scripture
The Creeds (Apostle’s & Nicene)
The Westminster Confession
Presbyterianism
Scripture is the only one on this list that is the Word of God. It only and above all else dictates an understanding of who God is, what man is, and how man is to act.
The Creeds are human in origin and yet are the best summary of the Christian faith. I believe them to be entirely accurate and disagreement with the Creeds would put someone in a religion other than Christianity.
The Westminster Confession is one of many reformed confessions and is in my opinion the best exegesis of Scripture. That said, I do not believe the Westminster Confession to be the only biblical exegesis and readily admit that it may have errors. There are many other confessions and ultimately, belief in a confession is not salvific.
Presbyterianism is, most simply, a form of government for the church and its members. That said, it is generally associated with protestantism, reformed thinking, and evangelicalism. It is by no means the only method for the church to act but it is a wise approach to life.
It is under this order of things that I form my worldview. Scripture is the basis of it all and the only true way to understand life and how we are to live. Wiser men than I have designed the other three aspects of this view and they help me to understand the applications. Yet I can not entirely rely on sinful man to describe to me how to live out my faith. Therefore, it is my continued responsibly to review and exercise my faith day by day.
I encourage you to take a moment to list out the foundation and order of your worldview as well.
Jonathan George 