Back to Basics

Back to Basics

If you’re like me, you can hear an adult’s voice from your childhood in your head every time certain situations present themselves. Words of wisdom or warning that ring in our ears, reminding us of timeless truths that have been passed from one generation to another. From the messages we send the opposite sex by the way we dress to dinner etiquette when there are more forks than guests at the table, someone has ushered us into new frontiers of knowledge and those teachings stay with us. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, we wash our hands and brush our teeth because someone told us to do it a million times! (Anyone have kids?)

The apostle Peter had the heart of a teacher and wanted his learners to really, really get it. He seemed to love knowledge as much as he loved the ones he was teaching. Knowledge in the context of relationship, seeing growth and understanding, is one of a teacher’s most satisfying gifts. And what I’ve been experiencing lately is that it’s not always about new knowledge. Sometimes, like in 2 Peter 1:12-15, it’s the determination to keep alive the basic building blocks of learning – or faith – that’s necessary for effective education. Say it one more time, and maybe it will stick.                       

¹² So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. ¹³ I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, ¹⁴ because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ¹⁵ And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

Reading the preceding verses of chapter 1 gives the context, of course, for his phrases like “these things”. And notice that he is not spending every ounce of ink to present new facts to his students; he is telling them that until he dies, he will remind them of the same things he’s been teaching, and that he wants them to remember it all even after he’s gone.

The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy is similar. Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers are Moses’ story of trying to pass along the law, as God has given it to him, to the sometimes responsive, mostly rebellious, Israelites. The phrases “remember” and “be careful” are liberally sprinkled throughout Moses’ final book. And why tell the people to remember and be careful of the same things they’ve already heard if not for the fact that God was quite certain they would forget and be careless? (In high school a friend and I had an imaginary passenger in the car named “Care” for when our parents told us to “take care” when driving. We made sure to bring her everywhere since we were told to a million times!)

These basic building blocks of faith are good for us to remember. We don’t need to stop there and learn nothing further, but we do need to be careful and remember the foundational truths of our faith. They are the “spine” issues that hold up the body and create joy and unity in a community of Jesus followers. I’ve been reminded of these Christianity 101 lessons this week as I’ve been meeting with a college student who is discovering them for the first time. What joy for me to rediscover what she is learning as she approaches a relationship with Jesus. The kind of joy that one of my sisters-in-law (and sisters in Christ) expressed perfectly in a letter I received from her this week as she told me about a particularly impactful message she heard. She wrote,

“Ever since I heard this lecture I keep going back to Ephesians 2:8…it is still fresh to me. It brings me to tears as I take it in, as I grow in understanding of the completeness of the cross and resurrection. My salvation is a gift from God to me. I had really no part in the gift other than thanking Him for it…I treasure my salvation and the grace God has shown me.”

Don’t you love it?! It’s exactly what Peter is hoping his readers will take away: the impact of what we’ve already learned about following Jesus is exponentially satisfying as the relationship with Him grows and we change to be more like Him. Thanks be to God!

So what are those basic truths – those “spine” tenets – that can keep us going and lead us to deeper relationship with Christ as we fully appreciate them? Here are a few passages to ponder this week and keep in mind, looking for God’s confirmation and the joy of the Holy Spirit as we take them in again – or for the first time…

~Now brothers, (and sisters!) I want to remind you of the gospel… which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:1; 3-5)

~For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that on one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

~Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

~Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

~How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

~If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

~He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

I don’t know about you, but I never get tired of hearing that I’m loved, I’m forgiven and I’m free. And that is what we are, dear sisters. That is what we are.

• This week choose one or two of these truths and ask God to make it fresh and alive for you so that you can more fully experience the joy of your salvation. If you have not made that commitment to believe in Jesus as the only way to God, search these passages and ask God to reveal Himself and His truth to you as He draws you closer to Him.