As moral creatures, everyone has his/her own beliefs, the ones that we often call as life principles or philosophy. These beliefs can be described in terms of how a person holds on to it. To some, their beliefs remain as mere knowledge, and not as something that affects their daily lives. Conversely, others make their philosophies evidently reflected in their lives. And it seems necessary that this position should be established; philosophies should be manifested in one’s own life. Now as mentioned earlier, everyone’s beliefs differ. And as for me, a Christian, the so called belief that makes up my life is the Christian faith. Hence, this paper will be covering this belief of mine; what it is and how it affects my life.
The Christian faith, as I can put it, is a wide topic. But the main things that I want to point out as my core belief are the gospel in its entirety and some other doctrines. First and foremost, as it is even well explained and proven in systematic theology, I believe that there is God and that I have been created by him. With this truth, I am certain that all of mankind will one day stand before him to be judged according to how each one lived his/her life – that which was given by the Creator. This particular belief of mine is being challenged along with my values, of which one is “no cheating”. This is greatly challenged in my everyday experience as a student. Thankfully, I have already made a position that cheating is simply not doing my own responsibility. But no one has an excuse with regard to doing responsibilities, since God has given each one of us enough strength and time to do so. And because I believe in God and in his justice – that is, I fear him – I do not cheat. Fear of God helps me hold on to my values.
Second, I believe that I am a sinner and that I am of need of God’s grace, which can only be gained through faith in Jesus Christ and in what he did on the cross. Knowing that I sin against God every single day, I do not have hope in myself. That is why I have to look only at [God] Jesus Christ. Without this hope that comes from the saving faith in him, I would have already given up in this life; I should have already quitted on everything that I do and have to do. This is the reason why I learned to never lose hope; because of God, I have hope in this life. This particular belief is being challenged every day. Indeed, I fail many times. But here is my position: sinfulness is something that no one – except God – can deal with. Neither you nor I can make us right before God. That is the doctrine of man and his depravity, as well as justification through Christ alone. And this matter is not a simple thing, yet God took care of it. Thus, if God can deal with the greatest problem of mankind, would he not be able to also deal with any concern that we are so troubled with in this life? Of course he is able. Thus, I learned to never lose hope, and I always endeavour to retain it in my mind because there is always hope in God.
Third, I hold on to the doctrine of preservation. That is, God is governing everything until today, tomorrow, and the future; everything today is being controlled by God. And he is doing so for a specific purpose, which none of us can ever know. In his sovereignty, God is still working. He didn’t stop working after the creation of man in the Garden of Eden. Rather, he continues every single day. How then, does this relate to my values? I learned to view every work as good. Included in my values is to work, and to do it hard and best. This is greatly challenged in my day-to-day activities: work at home and at school. It is very much common to us that we are easily tempted to just have each day full of relaxation, ease, and idleness. But I have learned that that is not how life is meant to be. Since God, in the days of creation, said that all that was done is good, then to work is good. It is not a curse; Adam was commanded to work even before they fell into sin. Moreover, since God is still working [and he does stop], am I not supposed to do so as well? God works, then so would I. Thus, this truth – which I believe to – stirred up [and will stir up] my values concerning work.
Lastly, I believe in eternity. Correlating this truth with God’s gift of life for each one of us, I hold on the values of redeeming the time. That is, I should treasure every single moment that I have and still have during my stay here on earth by doing what needs to be done and what is best to be done. The truth of eternity has two implications for me: death and reward. Knowing that I will sooner or later die (since nobody knows when he/she will die), I have to make most of the time that is left of me – no matter how great the extent of that time would be. Also, knowing that there is reward in eternity (that is for those who belong to the people of God), I press on toward that goal by doing all that I can and by giving all that I have. One example of this is being good to others while there is still an opportunity to be so. Now this last belief seems to constitute all my other values. I redeem the time by doing what is right in fear of God and his judgement. I redeem the time by living life instead of giving up. I redeem the time by working hard and doing my best. I redeem the time by doing good to others as long as either I or they still live.
