What Comes to Mind When You Think About God?
There are some beautiful things that take place with 60 students and adult leaders from our church and youth group attending the Fall Retreat at Village Creek Bible Camp. Camp meals around a table, speed volleyball for hours, way too much sugar and caffeine for one weekend, smelly cabins, and constant chants of “6-7”. But on top of all that, we were able to enjoy some great worship sessions and have some deep, meaningful spiritual conversations, which certainly made for a memorable weekend.
Throughout the weekend, our camp speaker walked us through the redemptive history of the Bible, from creation to the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Friday night’s session stood out in particular as we looked at the well-known passage out of Isaiah 6. In this passage, Isaiah sees the Lord seated on the throne in marvelous fashion. The seraphim surrounding him are chanting,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
The whole earth is full of his glory.”
What we believe in life and about life matters. What we believe about God matters. “What comes to mind when we think about God is the single most important thing about us, as it profoundly shapes our lives and spiritual state.” – A.W. Tozer
Isaiah knew he was out of his league here. He had no great response other than to know that he was unworthy around the God of the universe.
I, along with many of our students, were reminded that many times our view of God is too small. We question and doubt what the Lord is really capable of. A few years back I remember being led by God to share the Gospel with someone specific. Naturally, I was nervous for this conversation. How would I transition from the ordinary things that we would normally find ourselves talking about to the supernatural, life changing Gospel message? Years later, as I reflect back on that time, I wasn’t nervous about messing up the words or the awkwardness that might be present. I think I was really nervous because I doubted what God could do in this individual’s life. So often we may think of a friend or family member who is too far from God to be saved. Such a small view of a powerful God!
In our Saturday night chapel session, 260 M.S. & H.S. voices lifted up this chorus from the worship song, You Hold it All Together by Maverick City Music and Upper Room:
And I believe that I will see
The goodness of the Lord
I’m confident as seasons change
Your faithfulness remains
What do you believe about God today? How might this be impacting your faith and your obedience to do what the Holy Spirit is asking of you.
We worship and serve a big God, let’s start to believe that this week.
Special thanks to our leaders (Amber Roskens, Kim Beran, Jen Stahl, JP Phillips, Don Lauchner, Greg Jones) for giving up a weekend to transport, hang out, have good conversations with, and to invest in the lives of our students!
Blessings,
Bryce
