Faith BasicsSample

Everything I need to know I learned from Mom:

• FORESIGHT: “Wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident.”
• LOGIC: “If you break your neck, don’t come crying to me.”
• SPIRITUALITY: “You better pray that comes out of the carpet.”
• OSMOSIS: “Shut your mouth and eat your dinner.”
• CONTORTION: “Look at the dirt on the back of your neck.”
• ANATOMY: “If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way.”
• GENEALOGY: “Shut that door; you weren’t born in a barn.”
• JUSTICE: “When you have kids, I hope they turn out just like you!”

Moms really do teach us some foundational things - the kind of lessons that the writer of Hebrews refers to in Hebrews 6:1-3. Let’s look at the first one today: “Repentance from acts that lead to death.”

There are two parts to that Faith Basic: acts that lead to death and repentance.

In Genesis 3 we see the very first acts that lead to death. Adam and Eve ignore the boundaries that God set for them by choosing to do things their way, and death is introduced. Notice how death enters the scene:

• In verse 7, innocence died.
• A perfect relationship with God died in verse 8.
• Confidence kicks the can in verse 10.
• In verses 12-13, maturity tasted death.
• The easy life died in verses 16-19.
• Verse 19 introduces physical death.

Death is always a consequence of our sin: the death of a dream, a job, a friendship, a marriage, and even physical death, but the worst is spiritual death. The horror of spiritual death is being eternally separated from God.

Repentance is the way we receive God’s cure for death. Repentance means to turn and walk in the other direction. It begins with confessing that I am a sinner and accepting Jesus as my Lord. As a follower of Jesus, you have done this!

Unfortunately, as believers, we are still human. When sin creeps in, we repent again - no excuses, justifications, or blame-shifting - and we return to striving to honor God with our choices.

Let’s graduate from milk to solid food by making repentance our default response to missing the mark.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for forgiving me of my sin. Please help me to live a life that pleases you by avoiding sin and repenting when I miss the mark. Amen.