Strengthening Spiritual Decisions

by Cary Schmidt





As promised, here are a few short thoughts about how to respond to your teenager after teen camp, especially in regards to their spiritual decisions.

Begin with the long-term perspective—our view of spiritual decisions is often just too short. Every good decision of life begins with short term challenges, but also bears long term results at a “core-values” level. Even if a teen struggles with a decision in the few weeks after camp, that doesn’t negate the fact that a long-term value was established. The key is, encourage your teen to take the long term view that they might not get discouraged with short-term struggles. For example: Let’s say a teenager decided to start walking with God personally. We all know that teen will struggle with keeping that decision every single day. But the long term value of walking with God has been established. If that teen can take the long view, and not get discouraged when a day or two is missed, he might still be walking with God twenty years from now. 2Peter 3:18 says, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Growth is always a long-term proposition.


Recognize what real spiritual victory looks like—with many of our spiritual struggles, the victory is in the battle—it’s in staying in the fight. For example, just because I decided to have good spirit toward my parents doesn’t mean I won’t ever have a struggle with them again. It means that I’ve decided to engage in the fight to maintain a good spirit or to restore one when I fail. Staying in the fight is the most important part of long-term victory. Many Christians give up too soon. It is for this reason that 1 Timothy 6:12 says, ”Fight the good fight of faith” and Ephesians 6:13-14 says, “…having done all, to stand. Stand therefore…” Spiritual victory in this life involves staying in the fight no matter what.

Make decisions public and share with family—if you haven’t already, carve out some time to sit down and ask your teenager what God is doing in his life. Too often, parents are convicted by their teens decisions and actually criticize them or belittle them. Phrases like, “Well, we’ll see how long that lasts…” or “We’ll see if you really mean it” are discouraging. Sometimes within moments of getting back from a camp or retreat, family members start tearing down what God did in the heart. Hebrews 10:24 teaches us, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:” Be thankful if your teenager is taking a higher road than you. In fact, join them on the journey. You really won’t miss your bad music, rotten TV shows, or bad spirit. Usually teen camp decisions are good for the whole family.

Encourage each other in godly decisions—To make a spiritual decision is to step onto a battle field. Nobody wants to go to war alone. If someone you love has chosen to fight a spiritual battle, fight with them. Pray, encourage, strengthen, and support them. 1 Peter 1:22 teaches us that we need fervent love in fighting the battle for purity, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:”

Renew decisions when you fail—It’s easy to spot failure. Within days of making a decision, often the Devil has succeeded at getting us to fail. His ultimate goal is that we might give up. We really only lose when we quit fighting altogether. For this reason, remember the importance of getting back up. Any decision worth making is worth fighting for, and worth getting back up after failure. Proverbs 24:16 challenges us, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again…”

I started going to camp when I was nine years old. For the past 31 years, I’ve been to camp nearly every year. Every year I’ve made decisions. And every year I’ve struggled to keep them. Over three decades, my life is much different than it would have been. The decisions held more than short-term value. The weeks of camp were more than just short-term spiritual pep rallies. No, they shaped me. They formed my future. They instilled passion. They infused courage to embrace big, direction setting values. The short term struggles of whether I kept a decision for a week or two is massively overshadowed by the collective value of deciding many times over to continue doing right and living for God. Each decision was another choice to stay in the fight.

Don’t’ be discouraged if you struggle to keep spiritual decisions. Just keep making them. Keep fighting the battle. You can never go wrong making a spiritual decision—even if you make it many times over! Teen camp results should really be measured in decades, not weeks. Maybe you’ve already struggled with a recent decision and the Devil has started discouraging you. Now would be a great time to get back up and stay in the fight!

What A Concept!

Whoa! What in the world is happening with our kids today?

Let's see...I think it started when Madelyn Murray O'Hair complained that she didn't want any prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you had better not read the Bible in school- the Bible that says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said, OK.

Remember Dr. Benjamin Spock, who said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem? And we said, OK, we won't spank them.

Then someone said that teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And our administrators said whoa, no one in this school better touch a student when they misbehave because we don't want any bad publicity, and we surely don't want to be sued.

Then someone said, let's let our daughters have abortions if they want, and we won't even have to tell their parents. And we said, that's a grand idea.

Then someone else said, let's give our sons all the condoms they want, so they can have all the "fun" they desire, and we won't have to tell their parents. And we said, that's another great idea.

And then some of our top officials said that it doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And we said, as long as I have a job and the economy is good, it doesn't matter to me what anyone does in private.

So now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out.
I think it has a great deal to do with "we reap what we sow".

Whoa! What a concept!

The 5 Deadly Sins of Worship Services | ChurchCentral.com

The 5 Deadly Sins of Worship Services | ChurchCentral.com


O.K., I've got my "mad" on today. Just indulge me, dear friends. Here's my personal list of the 5 Deadly Sins in Worship. I bet you could write your own list. Do it, and send it to me!


State the obvious

It's oh so tempting to tell a really attractive person that YOU think they're attractive—as though they hadn't noticed it themselves. Complimenting, after all, is just a form of showing affection and an expression of affirmation—nothing wrong with that. But, it can also be used to manipulate and imply, in some kind of naive way, that you have control over that person—that your impression "seals" their identity.

If I tell you how handsome or beautiful you are, I am calibrating (I believe) the standard by which you will be perceived by others. I feel powerful and, maybe, handsome myself—by proximity.

In countless church services, I have seen the same principle apply. If a pastor says, "What a beautiful solo," he/she gets a piece of the action. Their opinion of it elevates them inappropriately, not the musical expression of faith.

I once (horrors) closed out a service by saying, "Wasn't that an incredible call to action!" The congregation jumped to their feet to affirm the message, its delivery, and the messenger who brought it. Good, right? No, it was not a good idea and it meant a long, soulful talk with our fearless leader. He said that I had completely obliterated the application part of his sermon. By affirming the message, the messenger, and the nobleness of his sermon, I had undone the challenge he was giving. I stated the obvious. Bad idea!

Surprise the players (most particularly the pastor)

Some platform people think it will be o.k. if they insert "a little something" into the service that has not been discussed prior. How has this backfired—let me count the ways. No one and I mean no one wants to be surprised by a loose canon in a service of worship!

That doesn't mean you have to script everything in advance, but pastors should never have to hide a grimace because one of their colleagues decides to have an impromptu slideshow of the pastor's early years (oh yes, this happens all the time to celebrate the pastor's tenure). In one case, the pastor had to completely scrap the sermon because of time. He ended up being embarrassed and humiliated by his bear skin rug shot, and much more. I have learned the hard way to never surprise people on the platform.

Go overtime

I conducted thousands of rehearsals with various ensembles over the years. I had one basic rule—start on time and end on time. I think this should be a rule for worship services as well. O.K., here's where you rail against me about the Holy Spirit being in charge of how long worship services should go. I agree, and if you can honestly say the lack of punctuality in closing the service was because the Holy Spirit spoke to you—go for it.

Most often, we are late because we were sloppy in execution. Congregants know the difference. Holy Spirit vs. bad planning—they know! Those dear folks are holding us responsible to keep other church-scheduled events in sequence. Rightly so. Heaven knows the average church has enough activities on any given Sunday to more than fill a dance card.

Respecting people's time is a way of defining the orderliness of God's love and thoughts about us. Respect is, in many ways, at the heart of faith. At least that's true for me.

Announce in worship

The reason churches often make announcements after the service has begun, is that they want everyone to hear them, and lots of people walk in late. If you personally and honestly believe that you have appropriate justification for announcing the potluck dinner on Wednesday directly after the prayer of confession—again, go for it.

Entertain

I don't like long pauses in conversations. They make me uncomfortable, edgy, and restless. I'm getting over it the more I learn to listen. I no longer fill in every gap in every conversation as I was once wont to do.

Church services are often planned in the same nervous manor of the awkward conversational pause. Certainly we should move services with intentionality and good pacing, but trying to fill every space with jolly used car salesman misdirected enthusiasm, can kill the the very thing we seek most—Holy dialogue with our Creator.