Tag: christians

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Dear Christian Teens: On Why We Love Church Camp

Dear Christian Teens- On Why We Love Church Camp

Dear Christian Teens,

I think I’ve finally figured out why we love church camp.

You know. The retreat that so many of us go on once or twice a year.

We all bring terribly bad-for-your-health junk food, money to order pizza at midnight, and tissues to cry into when we have those heart-to-heart conversations.

And more importantly, we bring our Bibles and those journals that we dust off to use once or twice a year.

And with many other things, the memories are lovely things that we visit often after it’s over.

And we look forward to the next one that’ll come up next year.

But why do we enjoy this so much? And why is it so different than our normal lives?

I’m not going to talk about the goofiness that goes on (or why we play Do You Want to Buy a Duck? After the clock turns 12:00). I’m here to talk about the fire that is sparked in our hearts.

Dear Christian Teens,

You know that feeling. You know how it feels to raise your hands in worship with sincerity. You know how it feels to regularly read your Bible and just get it. You know how it feels to enjoy listening to the chapel sessions. You know how it feels to connect with your small group after.

It’s that fire that sparks in your heart after hearing compelling messages.

That fire to live out your faith no matter what.

But sometimes, we get home from church camp, and the fire burns out.

You’re ridiculed at school because you’re viewed as intolerant.

You come to the realization that you’re imperfect…and life is hard.

And then there’s a lot less motivation to read your Bible, so you kind of don’t do it.

Church camp becomes just another experience, and we see it as completely separate from normal life.

But it shouldn’t be.

I think I know why we love church camp. We love it because it sparks a fire inside of us. Our faith becomes even more real to us.

But seriously, when we go home, it shouldn’t end. Even though life gets harder when we aren’t surrounded completely by Christians, we can’t just give up.

Jesus isn’t the Savior of Youth Group Excursions.

He isn’t the Savior of Summer Camp.

Jesus is the Savior of our lives, and His love isn’t any different for us when we are at camp than when we are at home.

We love church camp because we feel God’s presence. We hear His voice. Things become clear to us.

But that doesn’t mean that the other 51 weeks of the year need to be boring.

No. Those 51 weeks can be the best weeks of the year. Wanna know why?

Because we get to live it out. We get to read the Bible on our own free will. We get to pray about things in our daily life, not just out loud in front of our friends. We get to trust God in tangible ways. And we get to grow in Him, which takes much longer than five days out of state.

We get to see God work things out in our lives.

So Dear Christian Teens,

We love church camp because it’s a great experience and we are on fire for God.

However, real life is the experience that we’ve been given for the rest of the year.

Let’s take that fire in our hearts and bring it into our daily lives.

For this is what we’ve been given. Let us not let our fires burn out.

And if we let ourselves be under the control of the Holy Spirit, we will not burn out.

*aj

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Freedom in Christ!

Keyboard, Mouse, iPhone

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what freedom in Christ really means.

I’ve heard some say that we can do whatever we want because of it, and I’ve heard others say that we have no authority to live in light of our freedom, we still have to follow the Bible rule-for-rule. I agree with both, and I agree with neither.

Okay, so I’m a nerd and I love the dictionary, so I looked up “freedom” in the (online) dictionary. And usually, I don’t like every definition of a word, but I liked all of these. So here is “freedom” defined.

  1. the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint
  2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.
  3. the power to determine action without restraint.
  4. political or national independence.
  5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery
  6. exemption from the presence of anything specified (usually followed by from):
  7. the absence of or release from ties, obligations, etc.

So, this implies:

We are at liberty and are not in confinement to the law.

We are exempt from external control of sin and the law over us.

We have the power to determine how we want to live.

We are free, according to the ruling of God.

We are personally free, and we are not in slavery to the law which brings sin, and sin which brings death.

We are free from the obligation to live under the law.

We are free from ties to sin.

Galatians 5:1; 13-14 says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. […] For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

 

We have been set free, guys! Let’s see, what were we slaves to? Oh yeah, being confined by the law, being entwined in sin, and being condemned to death. BUT WE ARE FREE. Doesn’t sound too shabby, does it?

Why do we have freedom? Because of grace.

Our sin is not counted against us.

Should we keep on sinning, though? I mean, it’s not like we’re punished for it or anything. Romans 6:1-2 says “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

 

I got a new computer about six weeks ago, and it is beautiful. It is fast, it is smart, it is clean and neat, it is light, and I believe that it makes my life oh-so-much better. I always enjoy working on my new computer.

I do have another computer that I used before, though. At first, it worked and I liked it, but after a few years, it got old. Now, it is old, slow, clunky and heavy, ugly, and unpleasant to work with. It makes me cringe every time I use it. My new computer is at least three times faster, and I can always count on it.

When I got it, I was ecstatic. I was so glad to be rid of what caused me so much trouble! But I had to learn how to work it and not let my old PC habits kick in. (The switch from a PC to a Mac is hard! But totally worth it to me.) After I learned how to use it, it came completely naturally to me and I would NEVER want to go back! I have a new computer now; it would just make my life worse to go back to use my old and broken one. What would be the sense in that???

I suppose the same thing happens in our lives too. When we do not know any better, we completely enjoy sin. After all, it is “fun”. If it wasn’t fun, why would we do it? So we continue on in sin, not knowing any better, and sort of enjoying ourselves in the process. But then we become Christians, and become new in Christ. We aren’t refurbished, we are NEW, and we still have the shrink-wrapping and tag. So, my question is, why do we want to keep feeding into the old nature (using the old, broken, clunky computer) when we can thrive by living for Christ (using the new, working, beautiful, and light computer)?

When we became Christians, we put away our sin nature. Because, perhaps we enjoyed using the broken computer for a while before we realized it was broken, but now that we have the new computer, why would we possibly want to use the old computer? It may take a while and work to get used to it, but still. Why would we want to go back?

Now that we have forgiveness and life and freedom in Christ, we can live our new lives without regret. We can live our new lives to the full, rejoicing in our salvation!

Yeah, we have freedom! But what would be the purpose of using our freedom – to use whichever computer we want – to go back to the old and broken system? Honestly, which one is better?

You know.

Living in sin is not at all fulfilling. Living in Christ is both currently and eternally fulfilling. Sin does not help us to grow or enjoy our salvation.

One day of growing in and knowing Christ is better than an entire life of fleeting-pleasure sin, my friends. Sin does not, will not, and cannot satisfy. However, a relationship with God through Christ can – and does.

Technically, we could live however we want. We *could* live in sin, because it is not counted against us. We *could* live for ourselves in never-satisfying worldly pleasure. We *could*. But we shouldn’t. Not just because “the Bible tells me so” – although it does – but because, we all know firsthand, that the world can not satisfy. We’ve all experienced it! You may try to convince yourself that you’re happy – but you can not truly find your satisfaction until your heart is set in the unfailing love of Christ. Trust me, I know. I’ve been there.

And it may seem counterintuitive to do so – but it’s worth every bit of life you put into living for Christ. Seriously. This isn’t our duty, it’s our joy.

Let’s use our freedom to live a worthwhile life. Are y’all with me?

*aj

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Covered by the Cross

Covered by the Cross

Sometimes, I think we see ourselves as dirt.

Yeah, something like that. Like maybe we don’t feel like we are good enough.

Or we don’t believe that God hears our prayers because we think we are so sinful and hopeless…

But we’re not.

We’re not hopeless. We’re not seen as sinners anymore. We’re not living under the law. Why? The blood of Jesus rescued us.

Hebrews 10:19-23 says this to us in encouragement.

 

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. Because of His death, we have communion and a relationship with God.

Because of the blood of Jesus, we are seen through the lens of His holiness. The curtain between God and us has been torn. His love for us broke the separation.

We have a full assurance of faith! Our hearts are sprinkled clean and we are counted pure. We have hope! And God is faithful.

That passage is soooooooo encouraging to me. See, I know that my sin nature is, well, sinful. Nobody needs to tell me that. HOWEVER. My sin does not define me, because it has been paid for. The blood of Jesus (via the cross) is what purifies me. Not by anything I’ve done, of course!

There’s one thing that’s the most important to know: The Cross is enough.

 

I can’t do anything to add to the finished work of Christ because it has already been done.

We are not perfect, but we are holy because of Christ. He has rescued us and poured His holiness over us.

There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, to hear our prayers any better, to give us more blessings, to make us “less sinful”, to make us more joyful. It’s been done.  We are loved infinitely, and we will never be loved or accepted by God any more than we already are.

The Cross covers it all.

We are pure. We are loved. We are adored. We are accepted. We are holy. We are blameless. We are redeemed. We are worthy. We are wanted. We are hope-filled. We are defined by the Cross. We are blessed. We are children of God. We are saved. We are good enough. We are righteous. We are forgiven. We are more than conquerors.

But why are we all these things?

We are all these things because of what Jesus has done. We are all these things, yet we cannot boast about it. Why? Because when we were undeserving, He came to save us.

 

Seriously, we did not do anything to earn this. It’s a free gift.

And that’s what makes it so AMAZING. We are forgiven because of the blood of our Savior.

We are holy, righteous, and redeemed. We are loved, and we are forgiven.

We need to live in light of that.

*aj

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What is The World’s Biggest Problem?

  

Good morning, everyone, and Happy Saturday! I hope you’ve had a good week and are enjoying the beautiful day.

This week, I had to write an essay and I thought it turned out pretty well. I had to write it in response to the question, “What is the world’s biggest problem and how would you work to solve it?” Enjoy!

What is the world’s biggest problem and how would you work to solve it?

There are many problems in the world. It is no surprise to Christians, however; we live in a fallen world. The world is full of sin, death, and seeming hopelessness. But the biggest problem in the world is not only sin. Because of sin we have this problem: the problem of incorrect biblical teaching.

What is incorrect biblical teaching? There are many ways to expand upon this question because it is such a huge issue in this world, and not always recognized. If the Bible is not taught correctly, it will not encourage thriving, growing, and real change in the life of a believer. First of all, many people believe that a Christian’s life will be easy, pain-free, or full of health, wealth, and prosperity. This is the furthest from the truth! It is not easy to live a life that will be full of persecution. It is not enjoyable to be tortured for one’s faith. However, just because a life is difficult, does not mean that it is not worth it. Because God wanted to have a personal relationship with us, His children, He promised never to leave us nor forsake us. And the eternal glory that is waiting for us — heaven for believers — is completely worth everything that we will have to endure in this world.

Another form of incorrect biblical teaching is the concept that we (as Christians) have the obligation to work hard to add to our salvation, or we will lose it. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” Salvation is a gift! Because of our faith alone, we are saved. Our “good works” that we do in this life are simply an outpouring of the joy that we have, coming from the amazing free gift of salvation from God. God does not force us to work for Him, but we should desire to give Him glory because of the thankfulness that comes from our freedom from sin and death!

To solve this problem of incorrect biblical teaching in this world, I would make sure that every spiritual teacher was taught correctly. Theology cannot come solely from a book written by a respected person in authority. It must come directly from the Bible, from someone who understands the Word of God and can reflect the Inspired Truth in how they teach. Without Christians living in light of Truth, how can those who are unsaved ever come to know the Truth?

*aj