¹²Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.

Peter has conveyed truth in his letters that is not new. He is referring not only to what he had orally taught but also to the apostle Paul’s teachings to them (see 2 Peter 3:15, and compare 1 Peter 1:1 and Acts 13–16). Why repeat what they already know? Today, there is constant pull toward new ideas and thoughts, as though knowledge is meant for our entertainment. With the onslaught of the media to capture our attention in new and innovative ways, the foundational and solid truth of God can seem stale in comparison. In some ways, the knowledge of God can be like a new song that we enjoy, until we sing it over and over enough times that it becomes old and tired.

The apostles were not unfamiliar with this phenomenon of the human soul always wanting new things. Paul confronted the philosophers in Athens who “used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21). So, Christians can be drawn away to creative and innovative ideas and concepts because they are new, not because they are necessarily true.

When it comes to musical styles or the culture of our Christian gathering, this may not be a problem, per se. In my personal life, as an analogy, I don’t want to live in my great-aunt Charlotte’s cute little house with its white picket fence, styled in the Norman Rockwell decor of eighty years ago. I decorate my house the way I like it now, and every so often might even redecorate it. So it is with some things in our Christian culture. We package the truth in ways that relate well to our current likes and dislikes—not just for the sake of making truth understandable to nonbelievers, but often because it is the way we contemporary believers like to frame things.

However, we must be careful not to allow the styles we chose, the creative wording, and the innovative ministry programs to alter the meaning of biblical truth. Allowing small, subtle drift may eventually lead to doctrinal error that will wreak disaster on the people of God. So we must continually go back to foundational truths and be reminded of the same things repeatedly. The teachings of the apostles, including Peter, became the bedrock of the first church when it began to meet after Pentecost: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). We should follow their precedent and keep going back to foundational truths.

Lord, in all the innovation of ministry styles, help us stay founded on Your truth.