Forgiver
What if I told you that I will be giving you a large bottle of water, but there is a small amount of chicken juice that dropped into it? Would you drink it?
If you said yes, we need to talk because you are living life on the edge!
Most sane people would throw that bottle away with a “thanks, but no thanks!”
No matter how clean the water was, it is completely contaminated by that one single drop of chicken juice, potentially carrying salmonella.
The water would be thrown away because it is “bad,” “contaminated,” and “unworthy to be drunk.”
Now think about your life as that water bottle, and each drop of chicken juice as your choices against God’s design and desire. That is a fancy way to say sin, or doing things wrong.
Some of your bottles would be more chicken juice than water, but does that really matter?
One drop deemed it worthy of the trash, not consumption.
James 2:10 says:
“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
Here is the point: All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23). Whether you have lots of chicken juice or just a little, you are contaminated and not worthy to be in the presence of God.
That is where Jesus comes in. The Bible teaches us that if we confess our sins, we will be forgiven by the work of Jesus (1 John 1:9). Jesus has paid the price for that sin already. That includes the sin from yesterday, yesteryear, and even the sins you will struggle with in the future.
This is what forgiveness means: we are fully made clean in the eyes of God. Whether you are able to silence the shame that remains is a different story, but when we confess our sins, God forgives us fully.
Why did we need Jesus?
Dirty things cannot make themselves clean. Dirty water will not turn clean. A dirty shirt does not get the stains out. A dirty toilet, try as it might flush after flush, cannot clean itself.
Dirty things need help to be made clean.
The same applies to us: sinners need a Savior to be cleaned.
Nothing in your past, present, or future can ever disqualify you from the forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ.
Do you believe that?
Saved
This week at Best Week Ever, we are teaching the campers why JESUS IS THE BEST. Thus far, we have seen that Jesus seeks us like the one lost sheep among the 100. We have seen that Jesus loves us even if we feel no one else does. Today, we are teaching the kids that Jesus’ love culminates in a moment of excruciating pain: THE CROSS.
Why was Jesus killed?
On the surface, Jesus was killed because the religious leaders of that day felt attacked by His teachings, miracles, and goodness. This attack was not because Jesus harmed them, but because He was encroaching on their authority, attention, and prestige in the community. Seeking to protect themselves and their way of life, they persuaded the people that Jesus was against the God of Israel, not from Him.
It is a wonder how the people who had memorized large chunks of the Scriptures could miss the blatant revelation of God before their eyes!
It is easy to say Jesus was killed because the religious leaders feared and envied Him, but that is not the whole story.
Why was Jesus killed?
Because God had a plan to save every sinner from before the world was made, and that plan required a perfect sacrifice. How do we know that God had a plan? Because in the third chapter of the Bible, God alludes to His plan of the One who will bring final victory.
God knew that men and women would not be able to stop choosing things that harm and hurt, lead to pain and problems, and are selfish and sinful. God knew we could not stop ourselves from wanting what is not ours. He knew His perfect creation would be marred by selfish sons and daughters.
So, God chose to do the only thing that could be done to satisfy His justice while also redeeming those He loved deeply.
Jesus + the Cross = the only solution.
Jesus died for you because that is the only way God could make a way for you to be with Him. God was willing to allow His Son to suffer, be slandered, and eventually be slain on public display because He loves you. Jesus takes our earned punishment so that we can experience His earned reward.
This is the Good News.
Do you know this?
Do you believe this?
If so, please be praying today for our campers to understand it as we teach it in an age-appropriate manner.
If you do not know this, I would love to share more with you through these devotions, our Sunday service, or, most preferably, a direct conversation. It is the best news you can know!
Loved
Who loves you?
Make the list in your head!
For some of you, that list was a lot shorter than you imagined, while others left off some people after they ran out of fingers.
Whether in this moment you feel you are loved by many or by few, I want you to hear this clearly:
God loves you!
How do I know that?
Because Jesus shows us that He loves people nobody likes.
I am not saying you are unlikeable, but in Luke 19, we see Jesus love one of the most hated people in the community of Jericho: Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus was a tax collector, meaning he was the IRS if IRS agents could also charge extra to line their own pockets. No one likes the IRS, much less a crooked IRS agent who is living in luxury while you barely scrape by.
Out of all the people in Jericho Jesus could have spent time with, He chose Zacchaeus.
Why?
Jesus loves people nobody else likes.
There is no one on earth, or anyone who has ever walked the earth, that Creator God did not love. You are not the exception.
Your past, your present, your language, your laziness, your manipulation, your mental illness, your lifestyle, nor your lies disqualify you from being loved by God.
Jesus loves you.
Today at Best Week Ever, our students will hear:
Jesus loves us no matter what we have done and where we are.
Jesus loves us when we hit our sister.
Jesus loves us when we lie to our parents.
Jesus loves us when we use bad words about our friends.
Jesus loves us even when we say we don’t love Him.
Jesus loves us when we are embarrassed.
Jesus loves us when we get sent to the principal.
Jesus loves us when we make bad choices.
Jesus loves us when nobody else understands us.
Remember, Jesus wanted to be with Zacchaeus before he changed.
There is nothing I have done that makes Jesus stop loving me.
Sometimes, you may feel like no one loves you.
You may not have friends to play with.
You may be told nobody likes you.
You may be punished by your parents.
You may be left out by your siblings.
You may not get your way.
We all feel that sometimes.
Yet we can always remember:
Jesus loves me.
Always.
Forever.
On your best day and on your worst day.
When you're happy.
When you're angry.
When you're kind.
When you're selfish.
When everybody notices you and when nobody notices you.
Jesus always loves you.
Seeker
Seeker
When you played hide-and-seek growing up, did you prefer to be the hider or the seeker? I will confess, I hated being the seeker because when you were the seeker, you were all alone. Wandering around lonely in the woods, between houses, or down hallways. Seeking was lonely, tiring, scary, and all-around not my favorite.
Today at Best Week Ever, we are learning how Jesus is the seeker of you and me. He will go to great lengths to find you. Jesus tells this story to help us see how far He will go for us!
There was a shepherd who had 100 sheep. He loved these sheep. Day and night, he cared for them. He named them and knew their little quirks. Each evening, as the sun was going down, he found a safe place for them to sleep, and as they settled down, he would count the sheep: 1, 2, 3…97, 98, 99 — where is 100? He recounted…99 again! Someone was missing!
Now, if it was just a stick or flowers he picked, he would not have cared. But this sheep — he loved this sheep — so he set off looking for the one lost sheep.
His search would begin around dusk and continue into the night as the wolves prowled. Through lonely paths and among noises creaking in the dark, it would be easy for him to get lost, twist an ankle, or stumble upon countless other problems. But he was willing to risk all of this danger in order to find the sheep. He would not stop looking until he found it!
Then, when he found it, most likely injured, he carried it back to the flock to rest and be taken care of.
Luke 15:3-6 says:
“Then Jesus told them this story: ‘Suppose one of you has 100 sheep, but he loses 1 of them. Then he will leave the other 99 sheep alone and go out and look for the lost sheep. The man will keep on searching for the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he finds it, the man is very happy. He puts it on his shoulders and goes home. He calls to his friends and neighbors and says, “Be happy with me because I found my lost sheep!”’”
God Almighty seeks you.
He desires relationship with you.
He wants to bring you into His people, the family He will spend eternity with.
In fact, God pursues all people because He loves all people deeply.
While we are helping the kids of Best Week Ever understand God’s love and desire for them, this is something you and I as grown-ups need to understand as well.
Do I believe God loves me enough to seek me? To find me in the mess I am in and carry me to safety? Do I believe that I am worth that much to God?
Hint: Jesus sure says so.
“Don’t let me let you go” by Thunderstorm Artis
Have you ever noticed that some love songs could be sung to God, and some Christian songs could be sung to a loved one? We must be careful when we are listening to music to hone in on what our words mean, not just what fits the melody.
Today’s song is a love song between a husband and wife. It reveals the difficulty that marriage and long-term relationships go through. There are seasons of unbridled affection and undesired association. There are moments of drawing close and drifting apart. This song taps into those moments and unexpectedly gives us words that could be a great prayer:
Don’t Let Me Let You Go by Thunderstorm Artis
This is a love that’s worth saving
My flag is up and it’s waving
I’m so foolish I know
So don’t let me let you go
I can’t take back all the words that I said
I know I hurt you
But I don’t wanna live through this life with regrets
Or without you
As I listen to this song, I am brought to a place of honest confession both with my wife and with my God. This is a love worth saving, so I surrender my argument, my way, and my “good enough.” I am so foolish, prone to wander and leave the one/One I love.
So I invite you to pray today: God, don’t let me let you go!
There are pushes and pulls seeking to loosen our grip on the One who saves us. God, don’t let me let you go!
I am tempted and tired. God, don’t let me let you go!
I am weary and worried. God, don’t let me let you go!
I am doubting and discouraged. God, don’t let me let you go!
Jude 24–25
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
God, don’t let me let you go!
Thanks be to God that our salvation rests not on the strength of our Grip, but on the sureness of his grip on us!