It’s summer!
So far the word I would use to describe summer is full. Summer is full of trips, camps, and being busy.
I’ve been interested in how our youth spend their summer time and what they enjoy about summer. The common answers this year are sleeping in, watching YouTube, playing video games, participating in various sports, swimming, hanging with friends, and traveling.
As I remember my summers growing up, and even as an adult, I know summer can become so full that we can diminish or disregard a relationship with God.
Our summer focus with the students is to ignite and fuel a love for Jesus that will address and fight the natural diminishing or disregarding that can take place when schedules get full. So much of this comes down to our thought life.
A.W. Tozer said that the thoughts we have about God are the most important thoughts we have. I resonate with that. I believe the apostle Paul knew that when he tells us about the “renewal of our mind.”
Our thoughts of God shape and form our relationship with him. One writer said it this way: "Many people have settled for a darker existence in which they relate to God in a way that leaves them discontent."
Over the summer we are going to address some faulty ways of relating to God that can leave us discontent, apathetic, and stunted. The good news is that Jesus tells us when we come to him in faith we begin to experience a new quality of life. He calls it eternal life. In other terms, it is life with God.
The Psalmist says in Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
The phrase “fullness of joy” stands out to me. If we have diminished or disregarded a relationship with God that phrase is hard to believe or know what the Psalmist means. Yet, we can experience this life as we rely on and trust Jesus. By relying on his word we learn to recognize and enjoy God’s presence and we live the way we were made to live.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Loren