30th September 2026

Sometimes, in our desire to grow in our faith, we can become so focused on going deeper that we forget the importance of getting the foundations right.

Hebrews 6 speaks about some of the basic teachings of the Christian faith and encourages believers to move on towards maturity. But calling these teachings “basic” does not make them unimportant. Quite the opposite. They are foundational because everything else in our Christian walk is built upon them.

Among the first foundations mentioned are repentance from dead works and faith toward God.

These are not simply concepts that matter when we first become Christians. They remain essential throughout our entire walk with God.

Repentance Is More Than Saying Sorry

When Jesus began His public ministry, one of His first messages was:

“Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
— Matthew 4:17

When many of us hear the word repentance, we immediately think of feeling guilty about something we have done wrong, apologising to God and trying not to do it again.

But biblical repentance goes much deeper.

The word carries the idea of a change of mind—reconsidering how we have understood something and allowing that change in thinking to produce a change in direction.

Jesus was not simply telling people to feel bad about their behaviour. He was announcing that the Kingdom of God had come near, and because a new reality had arrived, their lives needed to be realigned around it.

Repentance therefore affects the way we think about God, ourselves, our priorities, our relationships, our purpose and the direction of our lives.

It is God saying, in effect: My reality is different from the one you have been living by. Let Me change the way you see things.

And when our thinking changes, our direction begins to change too.

Repentance Requires Humility

One of the hardest parts of repentance is admitting that the way we have been thinking may be wrong.

We can become very attached to our perspectives.

Sometimes we have believed something for years. Sometimes an attitude feels completely justified because of what we have experienced. Sometimes our reactions feel natural because they have become familiar.

But maturity requires enough humility to say:

“If God's Word says differently from what I think, then I am the one who needs to change.”

That is what repentance looks like.

It is allowing God's truth to interrupt our thinking before that thinking determines the direction of our lives.

The Bible reminds us that God's perspective is far greater than ours. Isaiah 55 tells us that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than our ways.

Something can feel right to us and still lead us in the wrong direction.

That is why repentance is not weakness. It is course correction.

It is recognising that God sees further than we do.

Breaking the Patterns

One of the clearest places we can see the need for repentance is in the patterns that keep repeating in our lives.

Perhaps every few months you find yourself dealing with the same attitude.

The same reaction.

The same destructive thought pattern.

The same conflict.

The same temptation.

The circumstances may change, but somehow you keep arriving at the same place.

Sometimes we repeat because we have never truly repented.

We may regret the consequences without changing the thinking that produced them.

And if the thinking remains unchanged, the pattern eventually returns.

What dominates our thoughts will eventually influence our words, our decisions and ultimately our direction.

Repentance interrupts that process.

It asks:

What am I believing that keeps taking me here?

Does this line up with God's truth?

What needs to change in the way I think?

Real freedom often begins when we become willing to acknowledge the problem instead of continually defending it.

Turning Away Is Only Half the Story

But Christianity is not simply about turning away from things.

We are turning towards Someone.

Hebrews does not only speak about repentance from dead works. It immediately connects repentance with faith toward God.

That relationship is incredibly important.

Repentance says:

“My old direction is wrong.”

Faith says:

“God's direction is right.”

Repentance changes our direction. Faith changes where we place our trust.

We turn away from sin, self-reliance and ways of thinking that pull us outside God's purposes, and we turn towards God.

This is why repentance and faith cannot really be separated.

One turns us away from the old direction; the other moves us towards God.

What Are “Dead Works”?

Hebrews uses an interesting phrase: dead works.

Dead works are things that cannot produce spiritual life.

This certainly includes sinful behaviour, but it can also include something that may look much more respectable: trying to earn our relationship with God through our own performance.

A person can be disciplined, moral, religious and incredibly busy while still putting their confidence in what they do rather than in what Christ has done.

The apostle Paul knew what that was like.

Before encountering Christ, Paul had extraordinary religious credentials. He was disciplined, knowledgeable and committed.

Yet after meeting Jesus, his entire frame of reference changed.

The deeper issue was not simply whether Paul was doing good or bad things.

It was where he had placed his confidence.

That is why the answer to dead works is not simply better works.

The answer is faith toward God.

Good Works From the Right Source

Christianity is not against good works.

Ephesians tells us that we are saved by grace through faith, but it also tells us that we have been created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

The difference is the source.

Dead works try to create a relationship with God.

Living works flow from a relationship with God.

Dead works say:

“If I perform well enough, maybe God will accept me.”

Faith says:

“Because of what Christ has done, I am received by grace. Now my life, obedience and service flow from that relationship.”

That distinction changes everything.

We do not pray so that God will love us.

We pray because we are loved and want to know Him.

We do not serve in order to earn our salvation.

We serve because Christ has already given us new life.

We do not pursue holiness in an attempt to convince God to accept us.

We pursue holiness because we belong to Him.

Our works find their proper place when faith reorients our lives towards God.

Keep Coming Back to the Foundation

Repentance is not something we graduate from.

Neither is faith.

As we grow, God will continue to challenge our attitudes, assumptions, behaviour and thinking.

There will always be areas where He asks us to trust Him more deeply and surrender our own perspective.

The question is whether we remain willing to change.

Where does your thinking need to be recalibrated?

Where do you keep returning to the same pattern?

What have you been relying on to give you security, identity or acceptance?

And most importantly: Who are you trusting?

Repentance turns us away from what cannot give us life.

Faith turns us towards the One who can.

They may be called the basics of Christianity, but we should never confuse basic with unimportant.

Foundations are basic.

But foundations are also what everything else stands upon.

So keep coming back to them.

Allow God to change your thinking.

Allow Him to redirect your steps.

Let go of the need to earn what Christ has already made available by grace.

Turn away from what is taking you in the wrong direction.

And place your faith, once again, in God.

Because these are the foundations upon which great lives are built.