How To Have A Spiritually Productive Summer

I love summertime! But as a youth pastor, I fear the summer break. I fear  the summer because of the vast amount of free time many teens will have. It scares me to know that many of them will not have a Bible class or a school chapel to keep them “in line.” Many teens go on long vacations and some even disappear during the summer.

Regardless of the pitfalls of summer, I believe that summer can also be a time of spiritual growth. And yes, I do mean a literal growth in your Christianity (pardon us preachers for encouraging that). I have been a Christian for a long time. I grew up in a private Christian school and my dad is a preacher. Now, I have had my fair share of rough summers. I understand what will hurt you in the summer and what will help you. The points below are some practical tips that could help you and me grow in our spiritual life this summer. These points are very simple, but such is the Christian life…simple.

1) Have Daily Devotions – It is vital that you spend time with the Lord daily! I have never met a young person who has backslid while having a fervent walk with God. To have a spiritually successful summer…spend time with the Lord daily.

I have encouraged the teenagers in our church to have a goal to read a certain amount of Bible this summer. Setting goals like how much Bible you are going to read or how much time you will spend with the Lord each day will encourage you to have daily devotions. This is no doubt the key to having a spiritually successful summer!

Genesis 19:27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:

2) Stay Busy – It is very easy in the summer to get caught up in laying around and not doing much. It is especially easy to do that after working hard in classes during the school year. These are the times when many young people have gotten into some trouble. I am sure that you have heard the adage, “An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop.” How true that statement is! Whatever your youth group or your church offers, be there! Go to camp; go to all the youth activities; be involved in everything that goes on at your church! Keep yourself busy and you may very well keep yourself out of trouble.

Let me also add to this point the importance of managing the time you have. Do not just go through a day without having a game plan for what you are going to accomplish. Redeem or manage well the time God gives you. Someone once said, “Managing your time is managing your life.”

Simply put, “STAY BUSY!”

Ephesians 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

3) Don’t Sleep the Day Away – This could have gone under the previous point, but I felt this should be its own point. What a sure way to have a spiritually devastating summer! The Bible speaks in Proverbs 20:13 Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. I cannot find anytime in the Bible where God speaks highly about someone who “loves” sleep!

When I was in 7th grade, I got a paper route. Wow! What an experience! I do not know of anything that is better than walking in the pouring rain or trudging through the snow to deliver a newspaper to some extremely thankful customer (said with much sarcasm)! The greatest thing I took away from my five year career of being a paper delivery boy was learning to get up early in the morning. I had a purpose then for getting out of bed. Now I have to get up in the morning for a greater purpose, time with the Lord! You will struggle to have daily devotions if you lay in your bed all day!

This summer, set a time to get up, and get out of bed at that time! Do not expect to have a spiritually successful summer if you opt to sleep until mom puts dinner on the table.

4) Make Yourself Accountable To Someone In Spiritual Leadership - This, like all the other points, is important to do all the time, but especially in the summertime. At a time when a teenager’s schedule is very open, it is crucial for every teenager to be accountable to someone who will encourage, motivate, and provoke him or her to live rightly. The Bible clearly tells us to submit to those in authority (Hebrews 13:17). This summer, be accountable to a pastor, youth pastor, Sunday school teacher, or someone else in spiritual leadership in your life. If you desire to have a spiritually successful summer, to whom are you accountable?

Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

5) Make God the Center of Everything You Do – Talk about a great way to be successful spiritually this summer…put God in the middle of everything you do. If you would think about the Christian life like it was a wagon wheel. God should be the hub of the wheel and everything else should rotate around it. Family would be one spoke; your job would be another; extracurricular activities would be another one. And you will notice that every spoke goes around the hub. Such is how the Christian life should be lived if one wants to be successful in that life. I strongly encourage you to make God the center of your life…especially this summer!

6) Go Soulwinning - In my meager twenty-five years of being a Christian, nothing has encouraged me and motivated me as a Christian more than leading someone to the Lord! If you want to see yourself grow as a Christian, go tell someone about the good news…the Gospel. Whenever you can this summer, go soulwinning. I hope you could at least go once a week. Since this article is mainly written to teens, get involved in your teen soulwinning or get on a bus route. Do something that has to do with you having to tell others about what Jesus did for all of us. You will be surprised how you telling others how to be saved will motivate you to be a better Christian.

I Corinthians 9:16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!

These six things are just a few that I have given the teens of International Baptist Church hoping that they will be successful as a Christian this summer.

If you do not know Christ as your Saviour, that is a great place to start in making this a spiritual summer! Please click on the link “Eternity” and read the very simple plan of salvation. Please let me know about your decision. I would love to rejoice with you!!!

If you already are a Christian, I trust that these points will be a help to you as they are to me. Have a great summer and a spiritually successful summer!!!

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.