In an effort to become relevant, the Church of England has become completely irrelevant. I wrote that sentence in the margin of the article next to the 1.7% statistic. They thought that updating doctrine to match the culture would help them become more relevant when actually the exact opposite has happened. People have left in droves. In fact, it seems pretty clear that almost no one in England really cares about the Church of England. The same seems to be happening to some American denominations that have increasingly strayed from biblical authority, especially Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians. 

The eye represents the lens or filter through which we take in information about reality, the way we process truth. If your truth filter is off or “bad”, then you will not be able to see truth. In fact, Isaiah says there are those whose spiritual eyes are so cloudy they “call evil good and good evil.” Their moral compass has completely flipped!

How do we keep the eye clear? Part of healing my scratched eye involves some high powered eye drops. To bring clarity to the eye of the heart, we apply the soothing ointment of God’s Word. And not just occasionally. My prescription requires dropping in some fluid almost by the hour. It’s a steady application of healing drops. The more you apply God’s Word to your heart, the more clarity it brings. Be generous with his Word! 

Coming off of Vacation Bible School, and headed into a summer where we have reduced church programming, it’s easy to slip into a spiritual malaise, stuck in the doldrums, going through the motions. We all face that at times, so let’s pray that our church moves forward, with wisdom, counting our days, and even our minutes, so that we don’t drop off into apathy, but keep moving forward in health and growth.

Every day we have to decide what we’re going to do when faced with the truths of Scripture. Are we going to continue to believe things that we learned in this world that are lesser copies of a true reality, or will we renew our minds with the truth of God’s Word? This is why we memorize Scripture. We memorize verses like Romans 12:2 that talk about the importance of renewing our mind, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Every time we open our mouths we have a choice to either give or take life with what we say. Dr. York chose to give life that day, and though I’m guessing he forgot about that conversation before the day was over, I still think about it. How often do I do the opposite? Or not take an opportunity to give life to others and instead focus on myself?

In this age of shifting sands and half-truths, people are hungry for something to stand on. God’s Word is the truest truth one can ever encounter. God’s word gives us wisdom for life, as we are seeing in our study of the book of Proverbs. Be praying for our VBS efforts, especially for Lauren as these next few days are crunch time. Also pray for our kids, that they would come with hearts hungry to learn and grow. Lastly, pray for new kids to attend this year. Be praying for God to open the door for you to invite a child from your neighborhood to VBS. You never know how one summer can change the direction of a child’s life.

This week our staff team gathered to celebrate the 30th birthday of our Worship Pastor, Isaac Sanchez. I asked everyone to share something they would want to tell their 30-year-old-self (even if they weren’t quite there yet), a piece of wisdom to help Isaac transition into the next decade. Isaac commented that he was already feeling the age in his knees (the more ‘experienced’ staff rolled our eyes).

What I love about Mat’s story is how he didn’t let the identity he had created for himself hold him back. It was an important identity for sure, one that had helped him become a successful business owner and athlete, but one that was now limiting his growth. It’s easy to keep saying to yourself, “I’m a jock, not a nerd, I don’t read. I’m a businessman juggling a hundred things and don’t have time to sit still long enough to read.” But God has Mat in a new season of life with new opportunities to pour into others spiritually, especially his kids and grandkids. 

We shared about what we were reading and learning and eventually he said this, “John I’ve grown more as a Christian in the last year than I have in the previous ten years combined.” Whoa! That’s a bold statement and I wanted to hear more. He said, “I’ve found that I used to be overly critical with my wife. I would get testy about the smallest things. But now those little things don’t bother me like they used to.” That’s a big change. Especially for a guy who is 73 years old. I’m not saying that’s old, but I’ve heard it can be hard to teach an experienced canine new patterns. 

Our theme for the year is “Grow into Oaks of Righteousness.” We want to grow steady and strong like a mighty oak tree, which takes time and daily focus on God’s Word. We are studying the book of Proverbs to help us grow in wisdom. Colby recently wrote to the students about how he grew in God’s word as a new Christian.