Youth Camp Devotional

Called to Love: All of Us
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
    but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.”
-1 Peter 1:22-25 (NIV)

Called to Speak: Isaiah
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
-Isaiah 6:5-8 (NIV)

When Isaiah was exposed to the Holiness of God, he became acutely aware of his own impurity, specifically of his mouth. Once a seraphim addressed that with atoning holy fire, God gave an invitation which Isaiah expressed an immediate desire to accept.

Called to Care: in Opposition
“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
    if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
    and the Lord will reward you.”
-Proverbs 25:21-22 (NIV)

Your enemy doesn’t have to be someone you despise or hate. It can be someone who is opposing you in some way, or acting as an adversary. We can become enemies with someone else because of sin in our minds, poisoning us to assume the worst of each other. It can be someone you love, but just don’t know how to talk to. Sometimes we can “heap burning coals” on their heads by meeting their needs, looking past their opposition and loving them like God loves us when they don’t expect it. These “coals” on their heads, may change their minds, burn away their resentment and bitterness and allow them to see God working in you.

Alternate Application: Caring for Myself
Sometimes by reading God’s word it can be an opportunity to heap burning coals on my own head, purifying my mind, because I can also be by own worst enemy.