the best I can give

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, & the sin which doth so easily beset us,
& let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith:
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, & is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

The God & I study for the campers at Southland this summer focuses on the race of the Christian life. It has been a joy to dive into Hebrews 12 & learn how to run the race Christ has set before me without the weight of sin, focused on the prize He has placed before me.

During teen weeks, I have the opportunity to discuss the day’s devotion in depth with the girls in my cabin. Each week God has stretched my thinking & shown me something new & amazing about Himself.

This past week I was talking with one of my campers about the awesome sacrifice that Christ paid for my sins & yet the frustration I experience realizing that I don’t give God what He deserves. As we walked around the empty, quiet ball-field she looked at me & said, “The best we can give God is the least of what He deserves.” I stopped in shock. How true! God gave everything. He held nothing back. He sent His Son to pay for my sin. Even if I live the rest of my life in full dedication to Him, it would only be a drop in the bucket of the payment He deserves.

Though I can’t dream to repay Him for His merciful grace, I want to run the rest of my race according to His will: with energy, enthusiasm, endurance, & without encumbrance.

TUESDAY: RUN WITH ENERGY
The Tuesday devotional discusses the physical & mental energy needed to run a race. Mark 12:30 commands Christians to give the Lord ALL their heart, soul, mind, & strength. Discipline & hard work are needed to train the body to undergo long distances physically, but mental energy is more important. A runner may have the physical training necessary to complete a race, but if he/she starts the race with a negative spirit, then the race is lost before it has begun. If I want to be victorious in my Christian race I must first win mentally—Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

“I work as though it all depends on me & I pray as though it all depends on God.” –D.L. Moody

WEDNESDAY: RUN WITH ENTHUSIASM
If you have ever met me or seen me as I cheer on one of my teams, you know that I fill my life with energy! Southland keeps a rather unhealthy stock of giant jawbreakers for campers to buy. During junior weeks you cannot escape the presence of those disgusting, sticky, white balls! The campers never put them down & the evidence is left all over their face—around the corners of their mouth, down their chin, & even on the underside of their nose! It’s rather disgusting! During the last junior week a church sponsor asked me if I ate one of those detestable sugar balls to keep up my energy. “No,” I laughed with only a hint of distain, “God has just naturally given me the energy in one of those things.”

Enthusiasm is defined in our God & I books as a “strong urgent desire or interest. . . . a compelling power that overcomes all obstacles.” Our culture depicts an enthusiastic personality as one who is the life of the party, but a spiritual enthusiast is one who gets excited about God. One who exuberantly shows his/her love for God & His Word.

For me, the most eye-opening part of this lesson is a list of activities I am to rate from 1 to 10 pertaining to my enthusiasm: watching a sporting event, listening to sermons, eating, God & I time, memorizing Scripture, ect. Sadly, as I look down the list, I realize that I am more enthusiastic about the secular, not the sacred. That shouldn’t be! I should be giving Christ my ALL! He gave everything for me; “the best we can give God is the least of what He deserves.”

At the end of the study, the campers are asked to list the names of people who have influenced them because of their enthusiasm for Christ. Then, another kicker question: “Would any of your friends write your name down?”

Well, would they?

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be the same person you’ve always been.

THURSDAY: RUN WITHOUT ENCUMBRANCE
For those of you who are racking your brain for the definition of encumbrance, let me help you: weights. There are two types of encumbrances that Christians must put off—sins & weights.

Weights are unnecessary baggage that we carry with us through life. There is nothing sinful about a weight except the limitations they put on the runner. I Corinthians 9:24-27 encourages the spiritual runner to “run that ye may obtain” & to “strive for the mastery.” How? By bringing your body “into subjection, lest that by any means you should be a castaway.”

I usually describe it this way. At the end of each meal, the campers pass their plates to me. Anything left on their plate, ketchup, half-eaten sandwiches, fries, ect., is scraped onto the top plate for easy disposal. Sounds delicious, right? When we fail to bring our body into subjection, we are offering God the castaways, that top plate. That’s disgusting!

Weights are priorities, people, pleasures, places and possessions that are given more attention than God & His Word. The weights differ from person to person. What do you need to get rid of?

The second encumbrance is sin. These must be gotten rid of because they do harm. Multiple times throughout Scripture, Christians are encouraged to “lay aside” or “put off” characteristics of the old, sinful man. In the same motion of putting off, the Christian must find something to put on & replace that old sin habit. What is the best thing to put on & fight sin? Scripture.

FRIDAY: RUN WITH ENDURANCE
Friday is possibly my favorite discussion. In their God & I time, the girls read the first eleven verses of Hebrews 12, encouraging them to run with patience, which can be translated as endurance. Endurance is the ability to run a long distance with consistent energy. I am to give Christ 100% 100% of the time (I know that looks confusing, but it’s true!) As the booklet puts it: “the Bible compares the Christian life to a race: not just a 100-yard dash, but a marathon.”

A second thing we discuss is the fact that Christ is the “author & finisher of our faith.” Being a literature person, I love this illustration. God is the author of my life. He has written every year, month, day, & hour. What could be more awesome than that? The fact that He has already completed the book. As I live out one sentence, He has already finished the book. All I have to do is follow His will & I will have the best “happily ever after.” I love it. As much as I love to read, my life is the best page-turner I will ever pick up.

“For I know the plans I have for you, saith the Lord,

thoughts of peace & not of evil to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11

“For the Lord God is a sun & shield, the Lord will give grace & glory;

no good thing will He withhold form them that walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11

“For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand,

saying unto thee, “Fear not, I will help thee.” Isaiah 40:13

wrong thinking

“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times . . .”

As your mom or dad jambs their finger in your face and repeats that well-worn phrase for the millionth time you roll your eyes & turn off your ears. They’ll have to say it again later because you’re still not listening . . . true?

Sadly, we sometimes treat church messages the same way. After a simple introduction of the passage things like, “Uh, I’ve already heard this message. I could preach this message I’ve heard it so many times. Does this guy have any other messages or illustrations?” run through our heads. Before the message starts, we’ve already rolled our eyes & turned off our ears. In our minds we complain about the wasted thirty to forty minutes that lie ahead.

That’s wrong thinking.

Last week, I found myself wallowing in disappointment & selfishness as the preacher stood to deliver God’s word. “I’ve already heard this message,” I thought. “Doesn’t he have something else he could speak on?” How selfish! I had the gall to look back through the blue composition book that sat in my lap, look at the notes & considered not taking notes because I “already have this anyway.” Instead, with a sigh of boredom, I opened the book to a clean page & prepared to take notes. On the same message. For a third time. Filled with a complaining spirit, I wrote across the top of the page: Does he have any other illustrations/messages?

I wish I could tell you that as soon as I wrote those horrible, selfish words, I marked them out. But I didn’t. In fact, I started grudgingly taking notes. As Brother DeGuarde preached, those words seemed to lift from the page. “WRONG THINKING! WRONG THINKING!” my head screamed! The Holy Spirit grabbed a hold of my heart & I was ashamed. After ten minutes of conviction because of words I wrote myself, the top of my page said:
Does he have any other illustrations/messages? <---wrong thinking
What does God still need to teach me (through this message)? <---right thinking

All I had to do was change my perspective. Though I have been saved for over a decade, there is still much for me to learn. I should never come to a service with the predisposed thinking that I have nothing else to learn. You & I have heard it before: repetition aids learning. How true.

So, the next time you sit down in a service & begin to shut down because “I’ve heard this a thousand times,” give yourself a mental check & don’t be tempted by wrong thinking.