Summer Days…

Weekly Update – May 19th, 2022

As we now approach the end of May, it is safe to say that summer is quickly upon us. This season is easily one of my favorites of the year.  I love the hot weather, the afternoon storms, the long evenings and the different pace that the season brings.  But with this season of leisure and refreshment there also comes a temptation.  The article listed below titled, “Setting Our Minds on Things Above in Summer” by Pastor John Piper, is written with the purpose of reminding us of the spiritual benefits of summer, but also warning us of the temptation this season can lead to with spiritual laziness.    

He writes:

“Every season is God’s season. But summer has its special power.

Jesus Christ is refreshing, but flight from him into Christ-less leisure makes the soul parched. At first it may feel like freedom and fun to skimp on prayer, and neglect the Word. But then we pay: shallowness, powerlessness, vulnerability to sin, preoccupation with trifles, superficial relationships, and a frightening loss of interest in worship and the things of the Spirit.

Don’t let summer make your soul shrivel. God made summer as a foretaste of heaven, not a substitute. If the mailman brings you a love letter from your fiancé, don’t fall in love with the mailman. That’s what summer is: God’s messenger with a sun-soaked, tree-green, flower-blooming, lake-glistening letter of love to show us what he is planning for us in the age to come—“things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). Don’t fall in love with the video preview, and find yourself unable to love the coming reality.

Jesus Christ is the refreshing center of summer. He is preeminent in all things (Col. 1:18), including vacations and picnics and softball and long walks and cookouts. He invites us in the summer: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). This is serious summer refreshment.

Do we want it? That is the question. Christ gives himself to us in proportion to how much we want his refreshment. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer.11:12). One of the reasons to give the Lord special attention in the summer is to say to him “We want all your refreshment. We really want it.”

What sort of summer mindset is this? It is the mindset of Col. 3:1-2, ‘If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.’”

As the refreshment of summer is now here, let us not only look to summer as a fulfillment of what we have been waiting for, but let it be a foretaste of the refreshment to come when eternity dawns and Christ returns.  The temptation for us in anything is to see God’s gifts as the end, when in fact his gifts are only meant to be a means to seeing him in a greater way.  Therefore, let us then not neglect our Lord during this time, but instead, let us seek greater faithfulness to him through prayer, his word and gathering together with his church.  And as we enjoy the gift of what is before us, may we continue to anticipate the day when the sun that shines will no longer bring with it the scorching heat, but instead, will bring us into the presence of the Son who will shine out the glory of God before us forever.

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael Nelson