Last Friday, I arrived home from church camp.
It was an amazing couple of days. From water games to worship to quality time with other believers, there were so many fun things we did! Multiple people got saved and God worked in amazing ways. He revealed things, stirred passions, and convicted sin.
And, of course, I had to make a post recapping what I learned! Here are my main takeaways from camp.
Lesson #1: Our sin is serious—and God’s grace has to be enormous to cover it.
Every sin deserves death.
Sin is rebellion against God, and therefore, a direct assault against our Creator and King. It is only by God’s rich mercy that we haven’t been punished—instead, the Son of God has borne the penalty of all Christians’ sins.
Let me clarify two terms.
Grace is when we are given something that we don’t deserve. This is what happened when Jesus died for our sins. Someone perfectly holy bore the burden of our wrongdoing. Because of Jesus’ death, Christians receive an undeserved gift: eternal life.
Mercy is when we don’t get something we deserve. God gives mercy as well as grace—He has refrained from giving Christians eternal death and punishment. Instead, He sent His Son to take our punishment.
At camp, we first looked at creation, then sin, then redemption, then Heaven. Every sermon hit me hard. Much of what the pastor said exposed sin or misconceptions in my life, and much of it also gave me hope.
I realized that I had been sinning in a number of ways. And since I am a believer, and therefore striving to be like Christ, I cannot continue in that sin.
My sin is serious. So I will rely on God to help me out of it.
We need to realize that our sin is great, because that shows us how great God is. He never sinned, and He loves us in spite of our sin.
But we can’t stop at realizing the severity of our sin. We don’t need to despair at the weight of it. God is by our side, ready to help us through it. And the fact God decided not to eternally punish Christians for our sin, like we deserve, is awesome.
Lesson #2: I need to rest more.
I wrote an article about being burnt-out a couple of weeks ago, but maybe I’m not the most qualified person to write about that, because I often find myself not resting as I should.
I do things all the time, until I can’t anymore, and then I rest. Instead, I should be resting regularly so I don’t get to the point where I’m exhausted.
The main types of rest I want to focus on are spiritual rest and physical rest.
Spiritual rest is found in the Lord only. No other Being has perfect peace, and we can therefore find perfect rest in no other Being. But how can we rest in the Lord?
We spend time in His Word and in prayer. If we do this, we are spending time in His presence. We can also spend time with God by worshiping, having fellowship with other believers, enjoying God’s creation, and so on.
When we are in the presence of the Prince of Peace, His peace will flow over to us.
Second, I would like to talk about physical rest. Physical rest is tied closely to mental and spiritual rest. Can you remember a time when you’ve felt energetic and that has flowed over to your mental energy? A time when, since you were physically energetic, you were more equipped to work hard at school?
Now, can you remember a time when you were physically taxed? Your physical state probably made you mentally tired, too. Maybe all you wanted to do was take a nap.
Physical exhaustion can help you serve the Lord or keep you from serving the Lord to the best of your ability. We need to take care of our physical needs, and that includes taking breaks every once in a while.
I’m going to start making an effort to rest every Sunday. Sunday is usually a break from things like school and work, but I don’t take a break from writing. I don’t take a break from working out. I want that to change so that my whole day on Sunday can be spent in fellowship with the Lord.
Plus, if I rest on Sunday, I’ll probably have more energy for the rest of the week.
Realization #3: Church is awesome!
I loved being among other believers for almost a whole week. It felt like a taste of Heaven and made me want more.
People at my church love Jesus so much. They’re open to conversation. They’re kind and patient. They’re loving. And the world is not.
I want to invest in my fellow believers more. To go out of my comfort zone, strike up a conversation with people, and pray and talk about Jesus with people more than I do now. I want to befriend believers older than me, younger than me… of all ages. I have no doubt it will pay off.
That being said, time with other believers and with God should prepare us to go out and witness to unbelievers.
Though we are not of the world, we are in the world. And we can’t hide from something we are in the middle of. We are called to let our light shine before other people so that they will see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. Are you doing that?
Spending time in the church helps fuel us to go out and spread Jesus’ light. The church can encourage one another and spread light together. We can speak the truth together.
I am so thankful for the community of believers around me. People who love Jesus can be hard to find.
If you are not part of a community of believers, find one! Get to know other Christians! You will find encouragement and joy in that community.
Do you realize the severity of your sin and the power of God’s grace? Are you getting enough rest? Are you involved in the church?
Though we may struggle with those things, it doesn’t change their importance.