A VBS MOMENT

Vacation Bible School is underway this week in our church, and each night some 250 kids and their counselors take over the campus and bring it alive with sounds of laughter, energy, creativity, worship (and did I mention, sounds, very loud sounds, in fact?).  It is organized chaos, and it is a beautiful thing to behold.

An awesome thing happened on Wednesday night of this VBS week.  One of our teen counselor’s, Becca, shared with me that in her small group that night the girls were sharing that somewhere in their past they had asked Jesus into their lives, but they didn’t really know what it means, and they hadn’t taken it too seriously, and they didn’t talk to God much because they really never thought about it.  Becca asked them if they had thought about having the kind of relationship with Jesus that really mattered.  One of them responded, “You mean you get to start all over even if you mess up.”  Becca shared, “Yes.  God loves you.  He wants you and He cares for you.”  And, the girls all talked to God.  They took each other’s hands, formed a circle, prayed and asked Jesus to live in them.  And then they were off to the next event of the evening.

Way to go, Becca.   You probably didn’t think about it at the time, but thanks for sharing with those young gals that God is love and that He cares about them so much that even if they “Mess up” God is still right there pulling for them, and loving them, and caring for them.  On Wednesday you did more for God and those three little girls then you could ever know.  Thanks for being there.

As I have thought about this VBS conversation I’ve come to see again how fearful we are of messing up.  Why are we that way?  What if messing up and failing were a part of the way God works in our lives.  None of is perfect.  All of us have failed at something, even fallen short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23).  Knowing this, why are we sometimes shocked when somebody messes up?  Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think God wants us or wills us to mess up.  He just knows us too well, so well, in fact, that His Word tells us, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (I John 2:1).

You know one of the wonderful things about God’s grace is that He doesn’t write us off when we fall.  The truth is that when we fail or fall or “mess up” we have no better cheerleader on our side than “Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”  The apostle Paul even said, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful…” (2 Timothy 2:13). 

If God remains faithful let’s not allow ourselves to be defined by our failures.  If Jesus really is our “Advocate with the Father,” then when we “mess up,” let’s just get right back up and run into the arms of the Father who loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3).  After all, failure isn’t fatal; at least it doesn’t have to be. 

Never let failure be the final word.  Remember that God isn’t the God who writes people off but the God whom, in Jesus Christ “left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam’s helpless race” (Charles Wesley).

I think it is very cool when a VBS conversation between a teen counselor and three elementary age children remind us of what may just be the most important reminder we could ever need, that even when we “mess up” God just keeps on loving us.  I have a feeling that those three young VBS girls will not live a perfect life on their way to adulthood.  I’m pretty sure they will mess up from time to time.  I’m also pretty sure that when they “mess up,” the first person on the scene to help them up will be this incredible Advocate named, Jesus.” 

My plea is for you and me to be there for these three young gals, and all the young folks in our sphere of influence, and to keep reminding them just how much God loves them.  They may not have their act together one hundred percent of the time, but one hundred percent of the time God will have His act together and He will be faithful.

I always wondered why I loved VBS so much.  I think I found my answer on Wednesday evening.