Last week, I went to camp, and am now so excited to update you all with what I learned there and how I have grown in my faith. Not only am I giving you an authentic update on what is going on in my life, but I also want to share with you my goals for this year, and what I have committed to do to become more like Christ.
Christian camps have always had a special place in my heart; competitive games, meeting new people, and learning about the Gospel and being vulnerable are three things that I am super passionate about. Every year, I look forward to the constant fellowship that I get to have with other believers. There is something so special about getting away from the sin of the world for a week and just totally focusing on your relationship with Jesus that cannot be compared to anything else.
Throughout the whole week, I could feel Christ moving, and it was amazing to see how much fellowship can impact people. I was able to have vulnerable conversations with pretty much anybody, and share what we have been learning.
I came into camp feeling very self-righteous. I thought that I was doing everything right, and I didn’t feel like I had much to learn. And boy, was I wrong. I became so wrapped up on what I was doing “right”, that I had put all of my sins out of sight.
For months, my speech has not been glorifying God. I thought that because I didn’t swear, I was all good. However, there is so much more to your speech than just not cussing. To be totally transparent, I have gotten myself into a habit of making jokes at the expense of people that have hurt me. I did it for a while, because I was finding ways to justify myself. I thought that if somebody had hurt me, I had earned the right to joke about it at the risk of hurting their reputation. I said things that I shouldn’t have to my friends, and pressured them to laugh along with me. Because I justified it to myself for so long, I didn’t see a problem with it.
I had a weird feeling about it at the beginning of the week, but still wasn’t really convicted. One night, I found some time to be alone with God and asked him to make it clear what my camp commitment was going to be (for those of you that don’t know, a camp commitment is what you write at the end of camp that you commit to do for the next year based off of what you learned that week). I had learned a lot of things, but there was nothing that really struck me in the heart. I became worried that nothing was going to be clear to me for a camp commitment.
Wednesday night during chapel, though, God really answered my prayer and made it clear how I was falling short of the glory of God. “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29). Listening to this, I was totally broken. The justifications I had been given my sins had finally fallen through, and I became disgusted by myself. If anyone else said the things I said and claimed to be a Christian, I would look down on them, but seeing those actions in myself made me realize how much of a hypocrite I was. At that moment, I knew that something had to change.
“And he called the people to him and said to them, ‘Hear and understand; it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person…but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts; murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.’” (Matthew 15:10-11,18-20).
The theme for the week was “undefiled”, and it took me some time to realize that I was defiling myself and my living testimony by making jokes at the expense of others, and not being careful with my speech. It was really hard for me to swallow my pride and realize that I was being disobedient to what I know the Bible says, but recognizing the sins in your life is the only way to break the habits.
Why is our speech important?
For Christians, our speech is one thing that really separates us from the rest of the world. When so many people gossip, slander, lie, and cuss, it makes a big difference to see people who refuse to do that. The lost world doesn’t obey the commandments of God because they’re lost, but we should be standing out through our obedience.
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-37)
There is a lot to unpack with this passage, but the part I want to focus on is the good and bad fruit and trees. Born-again believers are good trees, because we have been justified by faith, so we should be bearing good fruit, unlike the lost world.
This camp made me realize that I was not bearing healthy fruit when it came to my speech. How am I supposed to stand out from the world when my fruit looks exactly the same as that of the world?!
My camp commitment
On the last day of camp, I wrote my camp commitment that detailed what I learned, what I commit to doing with what I learned, and what obstacles are in my way of fulfilling that commitment.
This year, my camp commitment is split up into three parts:
Stop all speech that is not acceptable to God
Replace that with edifying words to and about people
Memorize and retain 5 verses that will help me with my commitment
As excited I am for this commitment, I also know that it is going to be very hard to keep working on this throughout the year. I haven’t even been back for a week, and am already noticing a lot of things that I have to change. There have already been a lot of times I’ve held back my tongue, because I know that what I am going to say will not glorify God. Whenever you make a commitment to stay away from sin and draw nearer to God, know that you will be tempted to fall back into that sin.
For those of you who have made specific commitments to God in what you are going to do, or what you are going to stay away from, stay bold and don’t back down! “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7b). You will never be tempted in a way where you cannot resist, so ask God to give you the strength to uphold that commitment.
If you haven’t made a commitment, I would recommend that you pray over that this week. Even if you didn’t go to camp in the last few weeks, or even in years, commitments are one way that you can set goals to strengthen your relationship with Jesus. In addition, commitments keep you accountable, because they force you to share it with other people that will check in on you regularly and make sure that you are doing what you said you would do.
I know for me, it is just the beginning of a year-long battle, but I am ready. I know that even though I will be tempted and tried, if I remain faithful and bold, I can edify others with my words instead of using them to harm people. I hope that this can have a lasting impact on my living testimony, and that it is something to be used for God’s glory.
If you made a commitment, what is it, and if you haven’t, what do you want to commit to do for the next year to be more like Christ? I would love to hear how the Lord is working in each of your hearts!
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