It’s been a few days since I got home from camp, and the pace of life is a little different, if you can imagine. No games involving water balloons, no outrageous costumes or fake teeth, and no whipped-cream-laden silly skits have made an appearance in my home since I returned from that crazy mountain in Ligonier. Lucky for me, these were all regular parts of my job this summer…but I couldn’t help but find myself wondering at the end of it all, “What was it all for?”
I find myself asking God to give me a reason for this summer.
A few months before summer, I fought God really hard about being obedient to His call to come to camp. And in my head I knew that a fight that hard meant something really good would come from this summer, so in the end it would all be worth it. So I came out of that experience asking God,
“Alright, what was your big lesson? What did you want to teach me?
What was the point of it all?”
And I waited to hear Him speak, and make it all clear.
I found it interesting that none of this was revealed to me throughout the summer months. I know I’m supposed to believe and trust that God works in mysterious ways but I thought He’d be a little more obvious about what exactly He wanted me to learn from this summer. So I waited, and once the end came, I waited some more. But as I waited for the answer to it all, I was struck with the humbling realization that this summer wasn’t about me at all.
God brought me to camp to do the work He wanted to do.
I was part of a staff that shared the Gospel with hundreds of kids this summer. I created incredible, memorable experiences for them; I made them laugh and dance and sing and feel joy and freedom and life. I made hundreds of water balloons and wore dozens of costumes, all for the glory of God. I spoke in front of hundreds of kids, telling them the good news of Jesus Christ.
And yet that wasn’t enough.
I wish I could tell you that I really believed that being part of Kingdom work made it all worth it. I wish I could tell you that I believed that the Gospel was enough for all the work I did this summer.
But I still found myself asking God,
“But what was in it for me?”
And at the core of that question lies my deepest sin of pride; it masquerades as a pursuit of righteousness, yet in reality it is me putting myself at the center of God’s kingdom, asking Him to do a work in me above all others. And ultimately, that’s not humility; that’s pride.
God doesn’t owe me an explanation; in the end, I think what God wanted was for this summer to be about doing the work. Sometimes, it’s not about teaching us a lesson. It’s about God using someone who is faithful and obedient to carry out the work He is doing on earth. Sometimes it’s about building His kingdom by doing work faithfully. And that we should be included in that work should be enough.
Yet we are sinful and broken people; we demand more.
Yet because of His great grace and mercy, we are allowed to be a part of the work He is doing here on earth. And that’s what this Race is all about.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” (Romans 12:1-3)
Paul urges us to not conform to the pattern of this world – the pattern of thinking too highly of ourselves – but instead reminds us that we have been given the grace and mercy that empowers us to be living sacrifices, gladly poured out for the sake of Christ.
Let us do the work set before us with faithfulness and humility.
Let us praise Him more today than we did yesterday, and more tomorrow than we did today.
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