What does love look like?

The past month has seen us preparing for and enjoying our weeks at Bible Camp. We are so thankful that we get these kinds of opportunities to encourage and be encouraged by people at camp. It is our fervent desire that these moments bring young people closer to Jesus, encourage brothers and sisters to see how God can and is using them in His kingdom, and enjoy the challenges that God brings us to help us grow in faith as well. 

At the end of July Scott directed a week of Teen Camp with the 12-14 year-olds. What an amazing age, with young people who are wanting to change the world and who are willing to see and accept the challenge that God gives them in changing the world. Our theme was “Living Upside Down” and we talked about being willing to swim against the stream, being willing to stand up for what is right. 

What always amazes and encourages me is how God presents immediate opportunities to put all of the lessons we are learning into practice. Not only did we have a few campers who are not believers, but we had to struggle with what it means to differ in opinions and still try to love one another and get along together. Of course the setting always helps – the fantastically beautiful nature, getting to work together at ‘kp’ (kitchen duty), playing sports and games together. And struggle is good. 

The following we were both down at camp for Family camp – Scott directing and Shirley directing the kitchen. I am always thankful to be back together as a team – I depend immensely on Shirley’s ability to run a kitchen well and very efficiently. But we are also then able to share our thoughts, feelings and prayers at the end of the day – preparing for the next day. 

This week was centered on prayer, and it was the question from our young brother in Christ, Mathias van Ginneken that stuck with me from his lesson on the Lord’s prayer (“Our Father” in Matthew 6:9-13): What does love look like? He pointed out that in this prayer – the most important thing Jesus teaches his followers concerning prayer – Jesus mentions forgiveness as the most important thing we do (it is about ‘us’, not ‘me’). After the Lord’s prayer (verse 14 and 15) he reiterates this essential element: forgiveness. That is what love looks like. 

This struck me because we were blessed with families in this week who were so grateful to be away from struggle, away from angry neighbors or strident ex-partners fighting for kids, or difficult relationships with family members. Here at camp, although no one is perfect, we work together, we share, we encourage one another. It was like another world. And isn't that exactly what God intends? 

It has stuck with me since that week. God’s greatest show of love is in forgiving us. That is what Jesus came to do and what he modeled for us as well. It is the hardest thing we will have to deal with in our lives – nigh on impossible. And yet God asks us to do the impossible – with His strength and might. He makes the impossible possible. 

So as we head into September and many more activities and wonderful discussions and studies, we hold on to that thought: What does love look like? It looks like us forgiving one another, striving to live together. What a blessing! 

Head on over to our pictures and taste a bit of what the weeks were like. You can see Teen Camp here. You can see Family Camp here. Thank you for your encouragement and desire to live for Him every day!

Out of the dark

How do you deal with forgiveness? What do we do with the struggle against sin in our lives? Who do you think you are – are you holier than I?

These and many other questions are part and parcel of our conversations and interactions – not only in our work, but in our daily lives with one another as well. Paul struggled with his past, knowing that he had condoned murder – even though he had not considered it such at the time. Peter knew what he had done there by the fire, cursing his accent from Galilee. We all know the feeling: we were in a dark place, a very dark place.

But that is the operative word – if we are now in Christ. We WERE in a very dark place. A place of shame. And when satan reminds us of it – either in temptation or in accusing us through the mouth of someone who has come to know of our past – we can only admit that it is true. We were truly like that. We really did do that. And yet, that is not the end of the story.

It is truly true that Jesus’ death on a cross, in shame and pain, paid my debt to righteousness. “God made him who had no sin to be sin so that we might become his righteousness” (a favorite song and of course also 2 Corinthians 5:21). You may have lived in the darkest depths of slavery (yes, that is really what it is), but He brought you out and placed you in His glorious kingdom of light.

Imagine what the Israelites felt when they came through the Red Sea on dry land and saw the waters crash back down on the army that had been breathing with heated breath down their necks. They had almost been caught again, captured and carried back to the darkness. But now, now they look back over the waves at that far away place, that place of darkness – as they stand in the light, as they stand in freedom.

I am NOT in darkness. I am NEW. And I will live as this risen creation, awoken to new possibilities and new strengths in the might of the Almighty God, my loving Father. You, too, can walk away from darkness. Don’t listen to the repeating refrain of shame that satan shouts into your ear. Simply admit the truth: Yes, I WAS in darkness. And admit the Truth: but ‘I have been crucified in Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me!’ (another song – and Galatians 2:20).

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

Fail Safe

A still from the movie Fail Safe

I am a pretty funny guy – even though my kids and my wife don’t think so. But I keep telling my joke (sic) anyway. And, as I say almost every time that I mention my wife and son haven’t laughed, “But you love me anyway.” And they do. I keep trying to tell jokes and have fun with it because I know they love me, even if I fail at telling jokes.

I fail at plenty of other things as well. All of us do. And some of those things simply need to be stopped. I don’t need to keep trying to lie or lash out or lend my ears to luscious gossip. That simply needs to be stopped – even though stopping is not simple. But in other areas failure means imperfection, not getting it completey and perfectly right. When I fail at encouraging others - everyone, fail at exhibiting excitement for God in my life – all the time, or fail at exercising my faith in daily life – every day, I can choose a few options as response.

I can give up as a failure and simply not try again. I don’t want to feel the indignity of the failure, or see the disappointment in the face of others. So I simply give up trying to do those things at which I can fail. Or I can do the opposite of what I know to be right, since I am going to fail anyway. I might as well fail well. (Perfection in imperfection?) If I feel everyone is going to look down on me, I might as well make ‘em good and angry.

But as a father, I know that I don’t want my children to feel this. I want them able to be creative, stretching and doing new things in their lives. This means that they have to be able to fail, safely. Children need to know that if they fail, they are still loved. If they fall down, they can get up and try again. This doesn’t mean that there will be no consequences for poor decisions. It means that the parent will be there to accept the child during and after the consequences, that the child will know that he/she is loved, despite the failure. And we all need to know that no one is perfect, doing all things right all the time.

God knows the same about us. He is the perfect Father, the example for all of us. He is there for us when we fall, letting us know that He loves us. He knows that we are not perfect, and that we will not do everything right all the time. But He wants us to try, and keep trying. We are going to fail. What we need is a way to fail safely, able to recover and continue. So forgiveness and grace abound.

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:21-24)