As I write this, I am in the middle of week 2 at camp. Week 1 was junior high. Week 2 is junior, which is 4th-6th grade. Week 3 is high school. The summer is usually a busy time for me, with camp, youth group, youth activities, and whatever else gets thrown on the calendar, such as moving into my house and the Arizona mission trip this summer. But as crazy as it is, I really do enjoy it. It’s a time I can also look back at the previous year of ministry and see where I fell short and where I can improve. I have done more reading and studying on different topics the last few months than I had in a long time, and I can confidently tell you there are many areas of my life and my ministry that I can improve, and I am excited about those opportunities.
This summer at camp, there is a big focus on the difference of light and dark, of God and sin. In Junior and Senior High Camp, the focus is on how Satan separates us from God. We are talking about guilt, busyness, distractions, fear, and self-worth. In Junior camp, we are talking about light and dark and how God wants us to live in the light because of the power of sin to destroy us in the end. As Romans 6:23 tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Satan is really good at getting us to fall into sin. He has many different weapons at his disposal to get us off the straight and narrow. The issue of sin isn’t only important for teens and kids. It’s for all of us. We all struggle with sin in some way, be it mental, physical, or otherwise. Maybe you don’t take every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5 NIV), or you fail to use your words to build others up (Eph. 4:29 NIV), or you just struggle to love certain people like you should (John 13:34-35). I could go on about so many sins that plague the human race, including myself. But there is good news, and it’s not just that Jesus has died to forgive us our sins.
We were given free will. You have the ability to choose. As Joshua says in Joshua 24:14-15, “’Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’” We can choose to do what is right! It’s that simple! When I was in college, I wanted to lose weight, so I decided to lose weight and I did. At one point, I had lost about 60 pounds. Regrettably, I have put some of it back on thanks to the pandemic last year, but all it took to transform my health was to make a decision, and then follow through with it. I think that’s the part that trips a lot of people up. It’s easy to make a decision, to choose to live differently. But we often fall short in the follow up to that decision, which is why most gyms are back to standard occupancy by the end of January each year. However, that doesn’t have to be the reality.
Starting today, you can make the choice to stop Satan’s influence in your life. You can choose to put more time into your relationship with God. You can choose to stop listening to Satan’s lies about what is and isn’t okay. God has written a love letter to us in the form of His Word. He desires to know us more and more everyday. He wants to know you better everyday. He is just waiting for you to say yes and make the decision to improve your life. And maybe you’re reading this and thinking you already have a great relationship with God. I hope that isn’t your posture because your relationship can always improve. I don’t want you or I or anyone else to become okay with just an okay relationship with God. If I was okay with my relationship with my friends or parents or family after x amount of years, those relationships would fall apart over time. It takes continuous connection to improve and build up a relationship, and that’s what I want for you and for me, because only then can we become all that God wants for us as individuals and as His church.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. -James 4:7-8a (NIV)
