Kids often want to be in the NFL,NBA, NHL when they are younger or maybe the best guitar player in a rock and roll band. What sometimes kids don’t want to do is learn the basics of how to be the best. I have definitely been in that position. When I was a kid, I loved to sing. I still do, but I don’t have as many opportunities as I did as a kid. If you would have asked me when I was growing up, what I would end up doing as an adult, I would have told you that I was going to be a pop star and in musical-based movies. I was going to sing, all the time, and I was going to be known for singing.
When I was in upper elementary/middle school, I was blessed with the opportunity to start singing lessons. I was so excited! I could not wait to start learning songs and performing. Then my teachers had me do the craziest things. They had me sing scales. I had to sing scales, after scales. La-la-la, mo-mo-mo, me-me-me. Up and down the piano. At first, I didn’t like it. I didn’t enjoy going up and down the scales so many times. Now, I can look back and realize how much those scales helped me when it came to my singing career. A singer learns scales in order to learn the notes and practice pitch and tone. A singer will not be good at their performances if they don’t have those two fundamental pieces.
This concept of learning the basics applies to all areas of life. For example, we send our kids to preschool, elementary school, secondary, and then maybe students eventually go to university and start studying the items that really interests them or what they really want to learn. A person cannot just start studying doctorate level science without learning the basics of being a student. I am reflecting on this currently as I am going to many graduation parties and celebrating with the students who have made it through an initial part of their walk of life. There are so many good things that are on their way, but this major life step had to be achieved first.
This also applies to our Christian life and our Christian walk. We can not become good Christians without learning the very basics. There is a passage in the Bible about this very concept. In Hebrews 5:13-14, it says, “For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.” A new believer needs to slowly start learning about what it means to be a Christian and what it means to love and to follow God. As they continue to learn, the harder theological concepts will start to click into place.
The basic concept of Christianity is this. God loves you. Not just an impersonal love where he loves the general idea of people, but God loves you for who you are. You are not perfect because no one is, but he loves you amidst those mistakes and those sins. However, there was a problem. That sin, even though God loves us even with it, does create a barrier between us and God. God can’t be that close to sin. He is too perfect for that, but he still wanted to be with us, his creation, his people. He still wanted us with him.
So, God created a solution to this huge problem. He sent his son to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus, our Savior Son, who was completely perfect came down and lived a human life with all the dirt, blood, and temptations, but he conquered it all. He lived a completely perfect life and still became accused like a prisoner who then was sentenced to die on a cross for the sins of every person in the world who has lived a sinful life and fallen under temptation (i.e., everyone). We are able to become Christians when we accept Jesus into our hearts, when we accept, we are imperfect without him, and we need him for our daily life and eternal salvation.
After we make our relationship with God, we should be filled with a big desire to learn more and more about Him. There is a lot to understand when it comes to Christianity. There is a really long Bible. No one will completely understand everything. It is also sometimes very difficult to be as Christ-like as possible. We live in a world filled with sin and temptations. It is hard to fight against our flesh. However, as believers a person can slowly start to learn more and more about God in order to become believers who are living a more fulfilled, less sin-filled life. But a new believer doesn’t have to understand it all at the beginning, a new believer should just have a desire to grow from the fundamentals.
My challenge for you this week is very basic, some may say fundamental. I want you to spend time thinking about the reason you are Christian. Why do you want to spend time with God? Do you do it because you have a calling to be close to God? Do you follow God because of your parents? When you start to remember the basics of your personal faith, the desire to know God and learn the more difficult pieces and aspects of Christianity will start to all make more and more sense.
Colossians 3:23 Blog 