God Loves You

Read Galatians 4:1-7.

Slavery—it isn’t something we willingly think about. Yet every day, we can’t help but hear stories of those who are caught in this evil.

In the newspaper, on the Internet, or from our friends, we hear of children forced to work in mills and factories and of young girls caught in human trafficking. We see consumer campaigns urging us to stop buying clothing made in sweatshops all over the world. We’re aware of how ugly slavery is, and the plight of slaves touches our hearts. But most times we don’t like to dwell on their daily lives. It’s too tragic and overwhelming.

In today’s passage, however, we are reminded that spiritually, we too were once in the same desperate condition. Sin held us in its unyielding grip. There was no escape. And even though we thought we were in charge, truth was, we never had any power over anything. Satan held our past, our present, and our future in his cruel hands.

Enter Jesus. Suddenly, there is hope and a way of escape. Suddenly, we have a choice and a future. And God, the Almighty One, becomes our Father. How things have changed! Instead of being nobodies, we’ve been welcomed into an eternal family, loved and accepted by the Father. God doesn’t hold you at arm’s length. If you are a believer, you are a dearly loved child of the Creator Himself.

Don’t let the wonder of that kind of love escape you today. When things get stressful, remember whose you are. Rest in the love of a Father who will never leave you. You are loved!

Posted in Devotions, Girls | Tagged Camp Crestridge, Galatians 4, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission. | Leave a reply

Use The Map

Try to find your house on a globe. Or maybe you could find Camp and the Lake. (I’m pretty sure you can’t do it.) Sure, you could find your city, if your city is big enough. A globe is the wrong kind of map if you want to find your way around a city. In the same way, if you were planning an international journey, a city map wouldn’t be much help. It might help you find the airport or the main highway out of town, but that’s it. To get where you want to go, you need the right map.

Read Galatians 3:23-29. Check out verses 24-26.

How is the Old Testament law like a road map?

What happens if you only use the law as your guide? Where would you end up?

How is faith like a map?

According to these verses, what purpose did the law serve?

How have you seen Jesus bring freedom in your life? In the lives of others?

God gave the Old Testament law to show us who He is and who we are (and are not). God is holy; we are not. God’s laws are perfect, and we are far from perfect. The map of the law only gets us part of the way there. The law provided boundaries and accountability, but it didn’t do anything about setting people free from their sinfulness. The law reveals our limitations; it shows us that we are sinners who need a Savior.

Jesus is the completion of the map. He is the way, the truth and the life. It’s Jesus who leads us to the Father and finishes the job that the law started. Together, they make the perfect guide to lead us to eternity.

Posted in Devotions, Girls | Tagged Camp Crestridge, Galatians 3, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission. | Leave a reply

Everyone Needs A Savior

Have you ever played Ridgecrest dodgeball and been knocked out of the game? You sit on the sidelines and wait for someone to catch a ball. Your ability to get back in the game requires the actions of another person. Your destiny is out of your hands. Someone needs to rescue you.

In life, like in dodgeball, there are many times that we need someone to save or rescue us. The trick is knowing the right person to rescue you.

Read Galatians 3:19-22 and make sure you notice verse 22.

What are some things you think imprison you today?

What does it mean that Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin’s power?

How is sin like a prison?

If sin is the thing that is imprisoning you, who can rescue you?

Have you asked Jesus to set you free from your sin? Why or why not?

How does it feel to know that Jesus has set believers free from sin?

Each of us has areas of sin with which we struggle. We all need rescuing. Left on our own, we are unable to set ourselves free from sin. There is no way we can be perfect, and so we become slaves to the sin in our lives. Sin is like quicksand, and we need someone to pull us out. We need to be rescued; we need a Savior.

Jesus is the only way out of the prison of sin. It’s not good works or being nice or following all the rules of being a so-called “good Christian.” If we believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior, we become free from sin. He is the key that opens the gates that keep us trapped. Let Him set you free today!

Posted in Devotions, Girls | Tagged Camp Crestridge, Galatians 3, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission. | Leave a reply

He Promised

How important are promises in your life? Promises are binding. That’s why people make contracts and written agreements. Once those documents are signed, the people involved are required to do what was described in the documents they signed. The truth is, a promise is important. When we agree to do something, we should do it. Once trust is gone, it’s hard to get back.

Read Galatians 3:15-18, giving careful attention to verse 15.

Do you trust others to keep their promises? Why or why not?

If your best friend made a promise, do you trust him or her to keep it? Explain.

When you make a promise, how hard is it to break it?

What do these verses teach you about God and His promises?

Why is it important that God keeps His promises?

How has God kept His promises to you?

When God makes a promise, He always keeps it. The wonderful and incredible thing about today’s verses is that they’re full of God’s promises to us. In today’s key verse, Paul pointed out that even on human terms, once a promise or covenant had been made, it couldn’t be changed. If that was true for humans, then it was all the more true for God.

The infinite Creator of the universe promises us that Jesus will save us if we trust Him. God planned it and promised it long ago, and that promise is good forever. Trust it!

Posted in Devotions, Girls | Tagged Camp Crestridge, Galatians 3, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission. | Leave a reply

Jesus Paid The Price

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t get it right; he just kept messing up. Each day he told himself that he wouldn’t let it happen again, but it always did. No matter how hard he tried, he just kept falling into the same trap. It was like he was snared by it. He tried each day not to let it get him, but he felt like it was crouching at the door for him, just waiting. He felt like he was . . . cursed. Was there any way out?

Read Galatians 3:10-14. Take an extra look at verse 13.

What does it mean to be cursed?

Who do you think of when you think of someone who is cursed?

When this passage talks about a curse, to what is it referring?

What is the effect of this curse?

The curse refers to our sinfulness and inability to be perfect. How have you seen that play out in your real life?

How can you get rid of your sinfulness? Can you do it on your own? Explain.

What does this passage teach you about the price Jesus paid to free you from the bondage of sin? How will that change how you live your life today?

Aren’t you thankful that we are saved by grace? The other option is to keep every part of the law our entire lives. That means living life and never messing up, being perfect. Jesus did that for us. He was perfect. Only Jesus, the perfect, sinless Savior, can save us from our sins by offering us forgiveness and grace. We get out of the curse because He became the curse for us. He took everything we have ever done that was against God’s law, took the blame for it, and set us free. Without Jesus, sin would control our lives, but we have freedom from that curse. We can’t even manage sin, much less eradicate it from our own lives. If you’re a believer, sin no longer has a hold on you. Live like it!

Posted in Devotions, Girls | Tagged Camp Crestridge, Galatians 3, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission. | Leave a reply

Salvation Is A Gift

Ever tried to use an expired coupon? How about play money when shopping at a store? If you have, it probably didn’t work so well. Most stores will only take the real deal—money that has value assigned to it.

In the same way, just being good doesn’t work with God. So how do we pay the debt we owe? How can we make things right with God when we don’t have anything of value to offer Him?

Read Galatians 3:4-9, and pay close attention to verses 8 and 9.

What does it mean that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness?

What was the value of Abraham’s faith?

What is the value of your faith?

According to these verses, is it good works or faith that makes you right with God? Explain.

Are you depending on your good works or your faith in Jesus for salvation? Explain.

Working hard and doing the right things is great, but these don’t restore a relationship with God that’s been destroyed by sin. Good works are important, but without faith, they are empty and worthless. We begin a relationship with God by trusting Jesus through faith. When we believe God’s Word and trust Jesus to bring us into a right relationship with the Father, we are restored and declared righteous, just like Abraham in today’s passage. The truth is, only Jesus can pay the debt of sin that we owe. Our sin has already been paid for. When we accept Jesus’ gift of grace, we are free to do good works for God and enjoy being in right relationship with Him.

Posted in Devotions, Girls | Tagged Camp Crestridge, Galatians 3, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission. | Leave a reply

It Sounds Good.

Read Galatians 3:1-3.

Commercials do it all the time. The description sounds so good, so plausible, yet when you dig a little deeper (and buy the product), you discover there’s little truth to the claims. They sounded good, but the claims were far from the truth.

That’s the idea behind today’s key verse. Paul wrote those words to the members of the church in Galatia. He had preached the gospel to them, and they had accepted Jesus as their Savior. But now it seemed they had been lured away by a message that sounded good and had elements of truth, but flew in the face of the gospel. They knew that salvation wasn’t anything they could earn through good works or behavior, yet they’d fallen back into that idea. They were making the new believers try to live according to all the Jewish rules and regulations. They were trying to earn grace by doing good things.

The problem with earning salvation is that we have already blown it. By the time we decide to be perfect, we have already sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. That’s why Paul reminded the Galatians where their salvation came from. They had received grace through faith, not because of the good things they had done.

In today’s world, there are many voices sounding off about God, faith, religion, and salvation. Some of those messages sound good, but have little depth or truth to them. Don’t fall victim to them! As we walk together through Galatians 3 this week, cling to the solid truth of the gospel and don’t let go!

Posted in Devotions, Girls | Tagged Camp Crestridge, Galatians 3, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps, Weekly Devotions | Leave a reply

whatever it takes.

Ask yourself: are you willing to do whatever it takes to see people come to Christ?

Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. Think about verse 19.

What did Paul mean when he said he made himself a slave to everyone?

What’s difficult about that idea?

How do verses 20-22 apply to your life today? How have you become like others in order to show them Christ’s love?

When have you NOT followed these instructions? What happened?

How do Paul’s instructions relate to how Jesus lived His life? Explain.

Is there anything you should NOT do or say in order to share Christ with others? Why or why not?

This was a difficult passage for me when I was in high school. I was taught that I was to be different from others to demonstrate God’s work in my life. Yet these verses seemed to say I should act like others.

Yes, relationships with unbelievers are necessary in order to share God’s love, but not at the expense of living a life that’s pleasing to God.

So how do we balance? Jesus showed us how. He was in constant relationship with God. Jesus’ inner circle was a group of men who yearned to love God more. But Jesus also spent time with so-called sinners. He ate with them; He talked with them. He was their friend.

Do you have a group of believers who help encourage you and hold you accountable? Do you develop relationships with non-believers? How can you share the hope of Christ with someone this week?

Posted in Devotions | Tagged 1 Corinthians 9, Camp Crestridge, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps, Weekly Devotions | Leave a reply

BUT IT’S MY RIGHT! WRONG.

We are big on rights in this country, as we should be. Even at Camp Crestridge we feel like it is our right to do certain things or have certain opportunities. However, there is something that supersedes rights in the kingdom of God—moving the gospel forward.

Read 1 Corinthians 9:1-12. Concentrate on verse 12.

What was Paul upset about in this passage?

Why is it important to provide for ministers and missionaries?

How can you help those in the ministry this week? This doesn’t necessarily have to be monetary assistance!

How could the message of Christ have been hindered by Paul demanding the people provide for him?
What’s more important, having material possessions or spreading the message of Christ? Explain. How do you show this in your life?
What rights do you need to give up in order to share Christ’s love with others?

Unless you work at a church or are a missionary, this passage may be one you routinely skim over. Maybe you think, What does pay for ministers have to do with me? This passage reflects a bigger truth, though. Paul was describing a God-given right that he had. According to God, he was entitled to provision from the people to whom he was ministering. That should sound familiar to you. As Americans, we defend, protest, and write our legislators, all in the effort to claim what is ours! But Paul refused to use this right. He chose to go without so that the message of Christ could be proclaimed. Wow. What a shift in perspective! How could you go without something you deserve this week in order to honor God? Are you willing to make that sacrifice?

Posted in Devotions | Tagged 1 Corinthians 9, Camp Crestridge, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps, Weekly Devotions | Leave a reply

Liberty and justice for all?

Read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Take note of verse 11.

We were all once enslaved to sin, but thankfully we don’t have to stay that way! A change can be made through the power of Christ. This is the good news we are to share with others.

Read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Take note of verse 11.

How do you stand up to the list given in verses 9-10? With what
do you struggle?

What does it mean to be “washed,” “sanctified,” and “justified”?
How does it make you feel to
know that as a Christ follower you are no longer guilty before God?
Do you believe that all sins are equal? Why or why not?

Do you think someone can continue to struggle with a sin and yet be a believer? For example, can an alcoholic or homosexual ever be a Christ follower?

What about someone who is selfish or who talks negatively? Why or why not?

Often, verses 9-10 serve as a “Do Not Enter” sign posted on church doors. So-called believers point to homosexuals or drug addicts and say “There’s no room for you here until you get your life straight.” They withhold the life-changing message of Christ from those they deem unworthy. Yet how many Christ followers are guilty of continued disobedience in other areas like greed or gossip? There is no double standard with Christ. Everyone is guilty before God, and anyone who accepts His gift of love and mercy will become justified in His sight. Only Jesus can take away your sin and free you from its burden. Jesus can change lives. Be careful not to withhold His gracious gift from others.

Posted in Devotions | Tagged Camp Crestridge, Cmap Ridgecrest, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2011 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps, Weekly Devotions | Leave a reply