The building Blocks of Faith

The building Blocks of Faith

(Excerpted from the denominational website www.crcna.org)

Laura & Bob Keely

September 17, 2020

 

The Building Blocks of Faith are one way of describing how Christ is formed in us.

  • I Belong
  • I Know and Understand
  • I Have Hope
  • I Am Called and Equipped

When these four statements become increasingly true for a person, his or her faith grows. Here’s an overview of what each of those four statements means.

I belong to God and to God’s family, the church.

We all have a deep need to belong. That’s why the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism is about comfort and belonging:

“. . . I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”

We are people who belong to God and also to a community, the church. We are created with a longing to connect to God and with his people. We are also hardwired to live with and learn from other people. So God graciously places us with brothers and sisters in Christ.

I know and understand God’s salvation story, and I have a part to play in it.

In addition to knowing we belong, we need to know God’s story and our place in it. This provides our identity and shapes us on our journey.

We need to know how people like Abraham and Sarah, Moses and David, played important parts in God’s story even though they doubted and sinned. We need to discover how the Gospels and Acts and the apostles’ letters can help us be the hands and feet of Jesus in our daily lives.

And most of all, we need to know how Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection give us life.

I have hope through Christ, in all of God’s promises

Hope is critical to building a strong faith. Our hope in Christ is an expectation that is strong and confident, because it’s based on promises made to us by the Creator of the universe and on the promises fulfilled and strengthened in Jesus Christ.

Having hope and trust allows us to live into the future with confidence that God is doing his work in the world and that we have a part in that work.

I am called and equipped in God’s kingdom, and I am equipped to do that work.

Because we belong, because we know who God is and who we are in relationship with God, and because we have hope that we are part of God’s plan for renewing all things, we also believe that God calls us to a particular place in his kingdom.

In the church, we help each other look and listen for God’s call in our lives.

For More About the Building Blocks