Christian camp and re-dedication

I loved going to Christian camp when I was a kid. It was a great time to escape the valley's summertime doldrums and drive 4 hours into the Sierra Nevada mountains where the air was clear, the weather was perfect, and I could be surrounded by hundreds of other Jesus-loving kids. Of course, there were a few non-Christian troublemakers who received scholarships to attend but they were few and far between.

Christian camps are incredibly predictable. Cabins were cleaned and inspected every morning after breakfast. After chow (the camp and cowboy way of describing mealtime), we participated in a series of elective activities. Those included crafts (homemade candles, purses for girls, wallets for boys, and laniards), hikes along the river, or archery for the adventurous Robin Hood-types. A hearty lunch followed a short sermon by the week's speaker. Free swim came next. Then we rested and had personal devotions in our cabins. Every night after dinner, we had chapel time where the speaker would deliver a powerful message based on a Bible passage that we had to memorize by Friday night.

Friday night. That was the biggie. Everything pointed to Friday night. The Holy Spirit showed up on Friday night. Monday was great and so was Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday but we all knew that Friday night was a' comin (thanks Campolo).

On Friday, the speaker tied the week's messages into a stirring sermon. Everything we had learned in chapel over 4 days suddenly became very personal. We learned how the Bible applied to us, our situation at home, and our life at school. We learned why church was so important and what God expected of us. Looking back, the message I heard was that I was very susceptible to backsliding (or had already backslid) and needed to work harder at being better. At the end of the message, we were asked to bow our heads and close our eyes. Note: Just once, I want to ask our congregation to get up on the knees, keep their eyes open, and look around before we pray. That would be fun. During a time of reflective prayer, the speaker would invite non-believers to stand up , raise their hand, shake a fist, etc. if they wanted to accept Christ.

There was a pregnant pause for the standers, raisers, shakers.

Then, he dropped the "re-dedication" bomb. As newbies stood up, he spoke to the rest of us Christians who wanted to get back on the Christian highway and put Jesus back in the center of our lives. As heads were bowed, we heard everyone else stand up. There was a collective shuffle of feet and you could feel the air move as people left their seated position. I always stood up. I needed to. How could I not re-dedicate myself to Christ?

Later in life, I worshiped with Nazarenes. Just before the final hymn, we had the "Garden of Prayer" where people were invited to come forward and pray at the altar. During the prayer, our pastor asked if people were ready to re-dedicate their lives to Christ. I can't tell you how many times I did that. I prayed the prayer, left the sanctuary, and I would leave church feeling great. Monday was filled with morning devotions, constant prayer, and happiness in Jesus. By Tuesday night, however, I was ready to re-re-dedicate my life to Christ. Sometimes, I would get to Thursday before I needed to re-focus on Him via re-dedication. I would never make it to Friday.

A fellow blogger talked about re-dedication a few weeks ago...

Rededicating ourselves to try harder isn’t the answer. It doesn’t matter how sincere we might be. It simply won’t work. The answer is to trust Him. That’s the only cure for an unstable, up and down sort of spiritual experience.

You won’t ever live a victorious Christian life by rededicating yourself to God, and telling him you’re going to try harder to do a better job. Instead, we must come to the end of ourselves - our self-life. We need to say, “Lord, it’s not just hard for me to live a life that honors you, it is impossible for me to do it. So I will stop trying and just trust you. You are my life, now Lord Jesus, live your life through me.”

We didn't become a Christian by revving up our religious rpm's and trying to make progress toward entering God's kingdom by what we did. Instead, we came to the place where we realized there was nothing we could do to get into a right standing with God. Nothing has changed in that regard now that you are a Christian.

In the same way, now we are to simply acknowledge that, no matter how hard we might try, there is actually nothing we can do to make ourselves stronger. Just like when we were saved, we have to come to Him in faith and total dependence that He will be the One who does what needs to be done; and He will.

The Apostle Paul said, "As you have entered the Lord Jesus Christ, so walk in Him." We continue the walk in the same way we started it -- by grace through faith. The answer to a sense that we are weak in our commitment to Him is to trust in His grace and know that He is committed to us. The one who has begun a good work in you will finish what He has started. Just trust Him, knowing it's not up to you and how hard you try. Faith is the key. That's all it takes.

I like that.