Back to the Basics

When tennis players are struggling with their game, they are usually coached to go back to the basics. Back to the first skills that they learned. That can apply to many things in life. We somehow stray from the first things we learned and lose our concentration. We tend to focus on the wrong things.

Remember this old song? “Lest I forget Gethsemane; lest I forget Thine agony; lest I forget Thy love for me, lead me to Calvary” (Jennie Hussey). That’s what we do during communion (the Lord’s Supper). The scripture tells us to remember by “breaking bread and drinking the cup.” God knew we might forget if we didn’t have this regular reminder. When we remember what Christ did for us at Calvary, it affects how we view ourselves and our lives. Christ, who was God in the flesh, died a bloody, gory death on our behalf in order to pay the penalty for our sin. What a horrible weight – to bear the sins of the world. “And he personally bore our sins in his own body on the cross, so that we might be dead to sin and be alive to all that is good” (I Peter 2:24, J. B. Phillips Translation).

That’s the gospel, which also includes Christ’s resurrection. “The Gospel is centered in God’s Son, a descendant of David by human genealogy and patently marked out as the Son of God by the power of that Spirit of holiness which raised him to life again from the dead. He is our Lord, Jesus Christ, from whom we received grace…” (Romans 1:3-6, J. B. Phillips).

So what difference do these basic truths make? They change our life, our destiny, our outlook. When I apply the gospel to my life, I say, “I am a sinner, but I am loved by a holy God. In fact, I am loved so much that He gave His son as a sacrifice for my sin.” I also acknowledge that I am weak, but I am empowered by the Spirit. Amazed, I read: “…how tremendous is the power available to us who believe in God. That power is the same divine power which was demonstrated in Christ when he raised him from the dead…”(Ephesians 1:19-20, J. B. Phillips). That’s more power than I can fathom. And it’s available and at work in me. WOW! And WOW again.

Are the cares of this life getting to you? Are they distracting you from the truth of the gospel? Let’s get back to the basics and let the mercies of God motivate us to love and serve Him. Is there anything more important than that?

“The Mercies of God” from “Songs of Hope”