Schools Out

The anticipation was building all week but is finally just moments away. The final bell is about to ring in the end of school and the beginning of summer break! Our school tradition was to run out in the hall and throw all our papers in the air and clean out our lockers. The hallway was chaos but so fun as we threw paper at each other and joking around while sliding down the hall on the loose paper. (Hmm I did not appreciate the janitorial staff as much as I should having to clean up our mess!)

Finally free of the schedule, the routine, and the homework. My days were mine and I could do whatever I wanted to do. But how quickly this new freedom turns into boredom and missing my friends. Do you know what I mean? Summer is full of free time and vacations, which is good, but it can also be bad.

What are you going to do with your summer? 

Summer can be an amazing break, or it can be a stumbling block, it just depends on your perspective and your plan. School can be demanding but routine is good. What happens when routines are broken, and expectations are lowered? You will either choose to rest or be idle.  As you consider your summer break, I want to encourage you with a few verses to be faithful in your walk with Jesus.

Choosing Rest

Hebrews 10:23–25

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

There is a lot to unpack in this short passage, but I want to leave you with a phrase to summarize this: on your summer vacation, don’t take a break from God. With your extra time will you consider holding fast, encouraging, and engaging community. 

Be Determined

The author of Hebrews encourages us to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” I love the fact that God’s Word encourages us in our weakness. These words acknowledge the struggle of remaining faithful and overcoming doubts. It’s important to recognize your humanness (Psalm 103) and be prepared to fight the good fight. Be determined to stick with Christ because “he who promised is faithful.” God’s faithfulness to us is a motivation for our faithfulness to him. 

Be Purposeful

You have a purpose given to you by God to be an encourager to fellow believers. Did you know that? How are you stirring up a deeper love for God in others? How are you encouraging others to do good works? Most of the time, when we stir something up, we tend to get in fights or arguments. That’s not our purpose. Our purpose is to encourage and exemplify godliness in our friends and families. 

Be Committed 

Commit to meeting together with other Christians. Most commonly we know this as attending church and youth group. You need fellow believers in your life. You need the Christian community. God wants you to commit to a local fellowship, it is his gift to you. You not only need it, but it needs you. You have something to offer by being there. Sometimes it may be expressed in a public way (like singing, teaching, serving) and other times it is just being present. Both ways matter.

Obedience to God invites his supernatural power to interact with our lives. As the early church father IGNATIUS said, “When ye frequently, and in numbers meet together, the powers of Satan are overthrown, and his mischief is neutralized by your likemindedness in the faith.”

Coming together with other believers who testify to the truth of God empowers believers to overcome the temptations of the enemy. Sure, there is no perfect church, but when we are determined to hold fast to the truth, purposeful in our engagement, and committed to our community we will see God do some amazing things in our midst. 

Choosing to be Idle

There is nothing worse than being exhausted from doing nothing. Have you had a day or season like that? Waking up and watching movies all day and feeling lethargic and tired even though you haven’t moved? On occasion that might be okay, but did you know it’s dangerous? Idleness is not a virtue, it’s a breeding ground for sin. 

You probably have heard the phrase, “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” Although that is not a direct quote from Scripture, it does summarize some of the biblical warnings of idleness. 

Proverbs 16:27

A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

A person with nothing to do finds himself plotting evil. Paul warns about “busybodies” who aren’t working but getting into other people’s business (2 Thess. 3:11). Paul also has some strong words for Timothy about not enabling those who can find ways to provide for themselves lest they become idle busy bodies. “Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not” (1 Timothy 5:13). He is not being harsh; he is identifying a common temptation for us when we don’t have anything to do. We get into others business and stir up strife. 

About a month before I went to Nairoby, Kenya, there were riots in the very slums where we were going to visit. Buildings were destroyed and thousands of people lost their lives. What motivated these riots? Idle men who had nothing to do, decided to pick a fight and it spiraled out of control. Innocent lives were lost, and homes were ruined because of a few who chose idleness over purposefulness. 

Consider what happened to King David when he took a break that he wasn’t supposed to take. 

2 Samuel 11:1–5

1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

We will stop there, but you can read the rest of the story later. David took a break and became idle. Taking a break to rest is good. Neglecting what you should be doing and becoming idle is not. In David’s idleness he proved the axiom “idle hands are the devil’s playground.” See the progression, David stopped, saw, sent, took, and later we would see he killed. 

Idleness leads to waywardness. It can start by scrolling through Instagram reels, one right after another. It may start off innocent with puppies and pranks, but then a tempting reel pops up. It puts a thought in your mind. Now you want to pursue that thought. You may not take it to the extent David did, but you started down the same road of sin. 

Sin is insanity. It blinds you to what is really going on. David never intended to sleep with his friend’s wife and plot to kill him. He got caught up in his sinful episode that took him farther than he wanted to go, kept him longer than he wanted to stay, and cost him way more than he wanted to pay. It wasn’t until the prophet Nathan confronted him and David repented that his sanity was restored to him (Psalm 51). 

This story of David reveals the truth written in Proverbs:

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. (ESV)

Before I comment, I thought we could read The Message’s rendering:

Proverbs 29:18 (MSG)

If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.

When we take a break from God, we forget what his Word tells us and we do stupid things. When we are purposeful in engaging our relationship with God and walk in obedience, we are promised blessings. 

I don’t like missing Sundays or Wednesdays at Lakeside/LOFT. It’s my local community, my family, and one of the ways I feel most connected to God. However, when I vacation or take a sabbatical, I make it a point to attend church with the people of God. Sometimes I have no idea who anyone is at a new church, but I am with people who believe what I believe and worship the same God. Since I have vacationed in the same spot for several years and have attended the same church in that city, I now have friends who recognize me there and I have fellowship with them on vacation. I enjoy visiting them, but my heart longs to be back home with Lakeside and LOFT. 

Unfortunately, we do not have a 24/7 opportunity to attend church gatherings, so it is important to establish good spiritual disciplines and practices throughout our days and weeks to engage our faith. You should set goals for your summer and seek to redeem the time. With your extra time, try reading more Scripture, memorizing it, praying longer, reading good Christian books (I can recommend a few). Look for ministry opportunities and seek to share your faith. 

We come back to Hebrews 10:23-25: be determined, be purposeful, and be committed. This is how you avoid idleness and understand what rest truly is. 

Matthew 11:28–30

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”