Is your Core Belief System correct or incorrect?

Our Core Belief System is what we think about life, ourselves, and the world around us. For example, before I was a believer my core belief system was a worldly one. I was what the bible calls a natural man. (I Corinth. 2:14). Spiritual things were foolishness to me. So, my Core Belief System was eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow you will be dead. Grab for everything you can in life now because tomorrow you will be dead. In this type of belief system if anything good happened to me I had to make it happen. I was the sole director of my destiny. I could only go as far as my abilities would take me. The power to do life and to succeed and advance in life was me and me alone. I depended on no one for my success only me!

After I became a Christian, I started learning what it meant to walk in Him. Even as a new Christian I did not realize what I had in Christ. As a new Christian I somehow knew God wanted the best for me but I did not realize he now lived in me and wanted to do life through me. So, I started my Christian life with a Core Belief System about my new life in Christ that was incorrect. I thought I had to do Christian activity to please God, so I went to work to do just that. Have you ever done this? …Try to please God based on what you do for Him. As if God needed you and I to accomplish anything. This eventually will lead to burn out. I call this Christian Core Belief System the Treadmill. It goes like this, First Salvation, do you remember what it was like when you first came to Christ? It was thrilling, exciting and you were so thankful to the Lord that you wanted to show Him how thankful you were! The works view of Salvation will eventually lead to condemnation. Condemnation is when you feel guilty about not measuring up like you should. Perhaps you sin in an area you can’t seem to control. Perhaps you see that you are not as energetic about serving the Lord as you were when you first came to Him. So, you feel condemned.

The next stage of this incorrect Core Belief System is rededication. Maybe you go on a Christian retreat and there you rededicate your life to the Lord and tell him you are going to do better and through this experience you feel like you are back in a good relationship with the Lord. It is like being back in the salvation stage with the Lord. So, to many Christians are on this treadmill, SALVATION, CONDEMNATION, REDEDICATION — SALVATION, CONDEMNATION, REDEDICATION. Have you ever been on the treadmill? Are you on the treadmill now? The treadmill only leads to a dead end, confusing, and unfulfilling Christian walk. Your Christian faith does not seem to be working, you are tired all the time and you are burnt out with this Christian life. You resign yourself to the fact that this is the normal Christian life, and you will just tolerate it.

In these two Core Belief System examples, both directly affected your behavior. Remember, your behavior flows out of your Core Belief System. Stay tuned for next time because we’re going to unpack what a correct Core Belief System looks like. This is the belief system that built Camp Grace and continues to grow and reach thousands of kids for Christ. See you next time.

Dave Pridemore
Founder Camp Grace