When I went through staff training week back at the beginning of June, over and over I was told to "spend and be spent" for the cause of Christ this summer. Every weekend they remind us in staff meeting to "spend and be spent" for our campers in the coming week.
When I give my all, and spend out my human resources and spend all of the strength the Lord provides, I am exhausted.
Sure, I have worked really hard all day before, mowed 13 yards and come home exhausted. That kind of exhausted is rewarding.
I have played so hard during a basketball game that I have exhausted myself and gone home and slept for ten hours straight. That kind of exhausted is fun.
I have studied all semester and killed myself studying for the final exam and done my best and arrived at home for the semester break exhausted. That kind of exhausted is challenging.
Here at camp I jump up and down until my legs are sore, scream until I'm out of breath, clap my hands until I develop callouses, slap my thighs until they are black and blue, run across the ball-field until I'm ready to drop, pray until I fall asleep, sing until my voice is gone, hike until my legs fall off, and love my campers until I have to send them home.
This kind of exhausted is different.
This kind of exhausted leaves me rewarded, and yet, it wasn't me that did the work.
This kind of exhausted helps me to remember how much fun I had, and yet, it wasn't entirely about the fun.
This kind of exhausted challenges me to give more, and yet, I never end up focused on the challenge.
This kind of exhausted leaves me with a sense of joy and happiness, a feeling I'll never truly be able to explain until eternity. When I look back at a week knowing I gave everything I had and then whatever the Lord allowed me to beyond that, I am filled with joy.
Here is the main point of this post.
Why aren't we ever asked to be exhausted for Christ every day of our lives? Why is it only at camp or on the mission field that we are asked to give our all? What are we saving our energy for? If the only place we are required to give 100% of our talents and abilities for the cause of Christ is at camp, then why isn't everyone required to work at camp?
I love being joyfully exhausted. I'm sad that I had to come to camp to learn what it was like. But I firmly believe that being joyfully exhausted is not a feeling reserved for those who work at camp.
I'm challenging myself, and I'm challenging you too. Be exhausted for the cause of Christ. Wherever you are whatever you are doing, do it wholeheartedly as to the Lord. Claim Philippians 4:13 and do all the things you have been given through Christ who gives us strength.
2 Corinthians 12:15 "And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved."
Alright Christian, get out there and be exhausted.
