Summer has ended and now you are back home and back into your daily routine. For some of you, this might feel like a relief, but for some of you it doesn’t feel right at all. You miss the pace of ministry you experienced this summer. You miss the smells, the food, the people, and especially your like-minded team. Regardless of how you feel, your mission hasn’t changed. God hasn’t changed. His work has not been put on hold. He is still building His church and He is still gathering people from the “four winds” TODAY. So, how do you stay in tune with the Spirit and on mission even though your surroundings have changed and you may “feel” different?
Paul gave a young preacher dude named Timothy some great advice and caution in 1 Timothy 4:16. You are probably familiar with verse 12 “Let no one despise you for your youth…” but I think the most potent advice from Paul comes in verse 16…”Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
“Keep a close watch on yourself…”
If you “feel” like your summer trip has somehow magically transported you to a new level of Christianity that few others can obtain, then you are in for a serious crash. A crash that will hurt, confuse and discourage BOTH you AND those around you. Paul wouldn’t have told Timothy to keep a close watch on himself if he didn’t think that Timothy had the potential to be HIS OWN WORST ENEMY! Throughout Scripture we see this phrase, “Guard your heart” or “watch yourself”. You can’t trust your feelings or your emotions. You CAN’T trust YOU. And the Bible tells us that the only way to guard your heart is with Scripture and with the people of God – the church.
Let others hold you accountable, whether they are one of your team members or someone at your church. Ask other Godly voices in your life questions like: “Do you think I am walking humbly with God?” (Micah 6:8), “Am I thinking and seeking the kingdom before my own wants and desires?” (Matt. 6:33), “Do I seek justice for those around me that are oppressed?” (James 1:27), “Do you ever hear Scripture out of my mouth and do I seem to have an appetite for the Word and for others to know truth?” (1 Timothy 4:13). If you are finding it difficult to stay on mission or if you are having trouble re-engaging your campus…WATCH YOURSELF.
“…and on the teaching.”
We threw a lot of teaching at you this summer. You were given a survival guide and some of you even took some notes - which is good because half of you were too hungry, angry and frustrated to hear much of the teaching! All of our teaching during Base Camp was drawn from the Word. Do you remember ANY of it? Time for a refresher course on what you learned? Look back over the verses in your survival guide. Read them and study them again and again. If you don’t “keep a close watch” on what you’ve been taught, you will forget it and drift from it, guaranteed. Just because you sat through the teaching times without falling asleep (well, at least most of you), doesn’t mean that it’s a part of your life.
“… you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
Keeping a close watch on yourself and what you’ve been taught, not only grows your faith in God and His Gospel, but it impacts those around you. Be careful to watch yourself. Be careful to remember what you’ve learned. And don’t let this summer’s experiences end with YOU. Let it pour out onto others and be ready to humbly explain what you’ve learned and what you’ve seen this summer. Be intentional and live missionally.
It’s always such an encouragement for us to hear from students, year after year, how the Core Values finally dawn on you – sometimes not till November or March of the next year! Keep us updated on how the Word and your experience this summer have changed you at home. And for those of you that lost your survival guide, just call us and we’ll get you a new one…a replacement is only $49.95, you can make the checks payable to Brad Cardwell.
