Live for Jesus

The theme this year at camp was "Live for Jesus and don't turn back." Our theme verse was Luke 9:62: Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." The first night our speaker talked about King Josiah in 2 Kings 22-23. He talked about the finding of the book of the law and how that changed the way Israel existed because Josiah realized who his people were supposed to be worshiping. Josiah went around and destroyed altars to other gods. But he didn't just take them down, he burned them, ground them to dust and then spread the dust in a cemetery. Josiah wasn't just saying to stop, he was saying to the Israelite community that SIN IS DEAD and we will have worship of the one true God and no other gods. He dealt with sin to bring his people back to God. One thing Keith said at the end of his talk really hit me for my own life and the way that I challenge students in their own walks. He said, "If it keeps me from God, if it hinders me from following, get rid of it!" I think too often I try to manage the big things in my life and in ministry and let little things slide, but those small things are just as big of a hindrance to following Jesus.

Matthew 16:24-26

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?