The drive home from training camp was filled with contemplation about what to write for my first post-camp blog. We spent the last 10 days learning to live in community with believers from around the country, growing together as a squad, building friendships, and most importantly experiencing God in a number of new and different ways. We immersed ourselves in scripture and testimonies from missionaries around the world as we discovered cultures and people from every corner of creation.
So much was poured into the past week that I was struggling to pick one subject to write about. When I arrived home I turned on Spotify and just hit play, and the first song on my playlist knocked me over. Hard Love by NEEDTOBREATHE reinforced many of the feelings I had throughout training camp, so I have decided to break the song down a little bit in terms of faith, growth, and the Christian journey. (Feel free to listen if you have Spotify, or look them up! spotify:track:0xcFH3973DZauDkGnNjMgm ) Ok, here goes:
Trading punches with the heart of darkness
Going to blows with your fear incarnate
Never gone until it’s stripped away
A part of you has gotta die to change
Going to blows with your fear incarnate
Never gone until it’s stripped away
A part of you has gotta die to change
Galations 5:24-25 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
An important thing to remember is that all people are just that, people. We all have a sinful nature filled with passions and desires. As Christians, our flesh is no different, however, by accepting the gift of the Holy Spirit it is laid upon us to deny these earthly pleasures and seek an intimate relationship with our God. This is easier said than done. The struggle with sin and temptation is ongoing and intense. It is not within our power to defeat sin, but it is within God’s power. We have to be willing to submit our sin to Him and allow the death of our sinful nature, we must die to ourselves in order to live the life that God has called us to live.
1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
In the morning you gon’ need an answer
Ain’t nobody gonna change the standard
It’s not enough to just feel the flame
You’ve gotta burn your old self away
Ain’t nobody gonna change the standard
It’s not enough to just feel the flame
You’ve gotta burn your old self away
1 Peter 5:10 “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.”
The point of this trip is not to travel the world for a year, meet people, serve, share the Gospel and then return home and jump back into our old lives. God has called us each to something greater; to grow closer to Him and increase our passion for reaching people in need. This year will be difficult, it will challenge us and burn us at times. (For those of us with pale sensitive skin, the sun will burn us quite literally…) A Passion will grow within us for sharing the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. But this is not enough, we cannot simply feel the flame for one year and then return. We must allow God to remove our old selves and replace it with himself. This is not just for people on the World Race. I would challenge everyone to allow God to remove the parts of you that you are clinging to, let go of what is holding you back and become the piece of the body of Christ that you were designed to be.
Hebrews 12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.”
Hold on tight a little longer
What don’t kill ya, makes ya stronger
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
You can’t change without a fallout
It’s gon’ hurt, but don’t you slow down
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
What don’t kill ya, makes ya stronger
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
You can’t change without a fallout
It’s gon’ hurt, but don’t you slow down
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
You know the situation can’t be right
And all you ever do is fight
But there’s a reason that the road is long
It take some time to make your courage strong
During difficult times, the road can seem very long. When we are struggling, the light can seem so far away. A year seems like a long time, but in terms of a lifetime it is minuscule, and in terms of eternity it is a flash. It is our goal to use the flashes that we have to build God’s Kingdom for eternity. The times of hardship should be embraced, because it is during these times that God is refining us and molding us into who he intends for us to be. Jesus has some words for us during these times:
John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
(Chorus)
When the wolves come and hunt me down
I will face them all and stand my ground
‘Cause there’s a fire burnin’ in me
They will see my strength in this love I found
Oh
(Chorus)
It’s a hard love…
(Chorus)
Mark 12:30-31 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength…Love your neighbor as yourself.”
By the end of this journey, I want to have a fire burning inside of me that I can no longer ignore. I want others to see that I am a follower of Christ by the way that I love them. In the verse above, Jesus calls us to not only love God but to love others as well. A major point of discussion at training camp was that people are not argued into accepting Christ, but may see Christ in us and desire to be in relationship with Him. If the people we interact with throughout our lives know that we love them, and feel that we care about who they are as individuals, they will see Christ through us. It is my hope that people will see Christ in me by the way that I love them.
1 John 3:18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
Collossians 3:14 “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 “If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.“
