Hey guys, this is BugSpray talkin' at ya!
If you're like me, then you miss camp a bunch! For a lot of us, camp is what is called a "mountain top experience", or a "spiritual high", or, as C.S. Lewis calls it, a "peak period". All of those metaphors convey an experience that as a Christian we will all have at different points in our lives. These are times when we feel especially close to God, times when we can easily hear him speak to us and everything feels great. Unfortunately these periods don't always last. Eventually God allows us periods where it is harder to choose to follow him. I think this is a way God shows us what our faith in him is really made of. It's easy to have faith in God when everything is going well, but when things get hard, that is when our faith is shown to be strong.
Jesus isn't going anywhere. He loves us so much and wants us to love him too. He is just waiting for us to turn to him.
For me, what has come of times like this is that I haven't been reading my Bible as much as I would like to, and as a result I can feel bad about both myself and my relationship with God. Reading my Bible is always something I mean to do but then don't make it a priority. I will mean to read my Bible when I come home from school, but then I get distracted with getting a snack, and then I have to get my homework done. Then later I'll remember to read it but have other things I'd much rather do. This is the kind of thing that most Christians feel, but don't always want to say. If most of us were honest with ourselves, we would admit that we can really struggle to set time aside to read out Bible and spend time with God.
During a service at church recently, the speaker made the point that, as humans, our default is separation from God. So it makes sense that we struggle with not spending time with Him. We are all sinners to begin with, and all our thoughts, actions, and habits, as a result, tend to be sinful. Some people believe that when we accept God's gift of salvation we suddenly become "good" people and therefore we should never sin. This is NOT true. When we become a Christian, there is still sin present in our lives. This is where God begins to work in us and can begin to change us into the people he wants us to be. But that doesn't mean we just sit on our hands and do nothing about it. Becoming the person God wants us to be means working at fixing our sinful habits. So, in the case of Bible reading, we need to work at making that a habit. I promise you, it is worth it. I've found that whenever I read my Bible, I often feel a whole lot better about my day afterwards. Just spending time with God makes me feel so much better.
This is something I personally need to always remember. Whenever I haven't spent time with God for a while I feel as if he is somehow far away. But I need to remember that He is still there, waiting for me to talk to Him. Waiting for me to turn back to Him. We all need to remember that Jesus isn't going anywhere. He loves us so much and wants us to love him too. He is just waiting for us to turn to him.
So if you haven't picked up your Bible in a while, I encourage you to read it and spend some time with God. He's been waiting for you. And if you have been constant in spending time with God, first I want to say good job! It won't always be easy to keep up these habits. Satan will always be looking for ways to distract us and bring us back to our old habits. So allow God to begin to work within you.
Well, that about wraps it up for me. Thanks for sticking with me and reading this whole thing. I look forward to seeing you all at camp again next summer!
Hi Nick, What a well thought out presentation. Recognizing Jesus as my Lord and my God is so big from my point of view. His Worthiness of worship so justified and rewarding. I Am The Word!