Have you ever seen a building being built? Perhaps you’ve gone through the process of having a home built. Maybe you’ve worked in the construction industry and have actually been involved in the process of constructing something out of nothing. Even if neither of those are true, there’s a good chance that you’ve at least driven by a site where a building or a home is being constructed. It’s easy to get caught up in the end result and miss the most important part of the entire project: the foundation.
Long before that skyscraper that overlooks the New York City skyline is completed, a foundation is laid. Well before the family that calls that cute little ranch-style home at the end of the street home, a foundation was laid. Before you ever set foot in the new mall that just opened up across town, there was a foundation. Builders, engineers, and other industry professionals came together and determined the best way to construct a foundation that would keep those buildings anchored in place, regardless of the weather or any other external factors.
Our Christian faith is no different. While it’s easy to say that living a life of holiness and eventually getting to Heaven is the end goal, none of that is possible without having a firm foundation. Understanding the basic principles that make up that foundation is paramount. Not only is it important for your personal spiritual development but understanding the basics of what you believe makes it possible for you to share your faith with others.
While there’s certainly not possible to discuss all the foundational truths of Christianity in a single study, there are several that we can look at. Understanding these will give you a greater understanding of your faith.
Principle 1: Repentance
Matthew 4:17 (TPT)
From that time on Jesus began to proclaim his message with these words: “Keep turning away from your sins and come back to God, for heaven’s kingdom realm is now accessible.”
The most foundational principle associated with the Christian faith is the concept of repentance. While The Passion Translation quotes Jesus as saying, ”Keep turning away from your sins and come back to God,” most translations simply use the term “repent.”
At its very core, “repent” is an ancient military term. It was a term that commanders used to instruct their troops to turn around and start marching in the other direction. The decision to follow Christ is an about face in the spiritual sense.
The day before you accepted Christ as your Savior, you were heading in one direction. Unfortunately, that direction was a terrible one that would have ended in eternal separation from a loving God. However, when you asked God to forgive your sins and made Christ the Lord of your life, you repented. That is to say, your spirit-person turned around and started going the other direction. This direction ends in eternal life.
Changing the way that you think, speak, act, and exist is the primary principle of the Christian faith. No, you can’t do that on your own, but through the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, you can change directions. Repentance was at the heart of everything that Christ preached.
Principle 2: Love
John 3:16-17 (TPT)
For here is the way God loved the world-he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send his Son in to the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!
It has been said that the entire Gospel is encapsulated in John 3:16. Within that text, we read of God’s primary emotion toward humanity: love. While we established that repentance was the first principle of the Christian faith, it is not possible without the second principle. God loves you so much that He gave the very best that He had so you could have a true, personal relationship with Him. The next verse expounds on that fact by pointing out that God didn’t send Christ into the world to bring condemnation, guilt, and shame. Instead, Christ came because the world needed a Savior that could rescue it.
The love that God has for humanity is the same type of love that He expects us to have for other people. That’s why love is such a foundational principle of Christianity. The Bible teaches us that ” we love God because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Everything about your new life in Christ goes back to love. God loves you which enables you to love God. In the same vein, God expects you to be a conduit of that love, constantly sharing it with others.
Principle 3: Faith
Galatians 2:15-16 (TPT)
Although we’re Jews by birth and not gentile “sinners,” we know that no one receives God’s perfect righteousness as a reward for keeping the law, but only by the faith of Jesus, the Messiah! His faithfulness has saved us, and we have received God’s perfect righteousness. Now we know that God accepts no one by the keeping of religious laws!
Thomas Edison, widely regarded as one of the smartest people who ever lived, said, “Genius is 2% inspiration and 98% perspiration.” Edison was saying that genius was more about hard work than anything else. However, without inspiration, nothing that was produced by genius would’ve ever come to be. At the core of inspiration, you’ll find faith. In fact, when we put our faith in Christ, we open ourselves up to an unlimited world of possibilities.
God’s love that we just discussed results in His beautiful desire to give us gifts. However, all of those gifts hinge on our faith in Him. God has promised salvation, the greatest gift of all, to those who have faith. We rest in God’s love for us because we have faith in His perfect plan for our lives.
In Hebrews 11, we learn that “without faith, it is impossible to please God.” As a child of God, pleasing Him is our ultimate goal, and having faith in Him, His Word, and the promises that we have access to is the only way to do that.
Principle 4: Hope
Hebrews 6:19-20 (TPT)
We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold, and where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone in before us. He is now and forever our royal Priest like Melchizedek.
Finally, the fourth foundational principle of the Christian faith is hope. The unnamed author of Hebrews declares that our hope works like an anchor, keeping us fastened to the mercy seat, holding us to God himself.
Even if you’re not familiar with sailing, you probably have a good idea of how anchors work. They serve to hold a boat exactly where it is. Storms can’t move a boat when it is anchored to something beneath the surface. That’s how hope works.
Our hope keeps us anchored to God, because we are able to stand on the promises that He has provided to us.
A Closing Prayer:
Father, thank You for calling me to repentance, and Your love, faith, and the hope that You have given me. Help me to fully embrace those ideas, and to do a better job of sharing them with others. I ask all of these things in the holy, saving, matchless name of Jesus Christ, Amen.