Growing up as a child, I spent several years adventuring with the Boy Scouts of America. Every Summer we would spend two weeks in the woods camping, establishing friendships, and learning life lessons that would help guide our decisions throughout our youth.
Whenever we had downtime, we would gather at the camp’s Trading Post. The Trading Post was our social hot spot. If you attended camp, everyone and I mean EVERYONE eventually found their way to the Trading Post. It was kind of like having a college union in the middle camp. It acted as the hub for everything that happened those two weeks including announcements, camp activities, and campfires. Inside the Trading Post you could purchase just about anything you would ever want or need while camping. Snacks, bug repellent, lanyards, knives, bowstrings… you name it, they had it to sell. You could also rent games and equipment like footballs, horseshoes, and Frisbies. Which brings me to my personal, all time favorite pass time at Summer camp; Four Square!
Depending on what side of the country you are from, you may know it as box ball or square ball. But, if you are not familiar with the game, it is pretty simple to understand. It’s a ball game played among four people on a square court. The court is subdivided into four smaller squares, one for each person participating in the game. Each square is usually labeled with the numbers one through four with the number one or “King” square being governed by the highest ranking player. This square is usually attained by nature of staying in the game the longest without infractions or being lucky enough to get the square at the beginning of the game. The object of the game is to keep the ball moving from square to square without touching the lines that divide the playing area. If a player causes an infraction, he is removed from the court or moved to a square with a lower status. A secondary objective of the game is to eliminate all other opponents to reach the highest position in the court. The coveted ”King” square.
The benefit to being in the ”King” square was that you could modify the rules of the game to your liking. For instance, traditionally, the ball could only bounce in each square once before being passed without causing an infraction. However, if you were in the “King” square, you could adjust the rules to allow the ball to be bounced twice. There were several modifications that could be made depending on the preferneces of the person in the ”King” square. No “overhands” and no “spinners” were common lingo in the game. But, when I spent time in the “King” square, I only had one simple rule. No bounce backs. A bounce back is when a player immediately returns the ball to you once you passed the ball to his square. I detested being caught in a boomerang cycle of returns with the same player. It reminded me of that old definition of insanity. “Attempting to do the same thing over and over again while expecting different results”. Today, it reminds me of Christians caught in a backsliden condition.
What do I mean? Lets first define the word to gain a better understanding of its meaning. To backslide is to “relapse into bad habits, sinful behavior, or undesirable activities”. Backsliding is kind of like rebound dieting. Once a person has found the right path, they stray off it again to pursue their vices. As a Christian, it is important to keep a right walk with God. Being mortal and flawed human beings however, we can often find ourselves fighting the same demons we were once delivered from when we first accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior. These bad habits and temptations can not only harm the person suffering from these afflictions, but they can also harm their ability to reach others. How? As Christians, we are supposed to be living a life that reflects the motives and intentions of Christ. Even though we will never reach the flawless standard that He lived by, we have been called to be His ambassadors and should live our lives as such. Paul put it this way in the Book of Corinthians;
17″Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” 2Corinthians 5:17-21 NIV
Returning back to sin and past follies is pointless because we know that they will not yield different results (Do you remember our definition of insanity from earlier?). Yet we often find ourselves in that same situation. This could be because we have not replaced our false idols with the one true God. In the game of four square, when a person makes an infraction, they are removed from the game and someone else takes their square. In the game of life, what you have allowed to take residence in the now vacant square of your heart will remain until you decide to replace it. Thomas Chalmers, a nineteenth century minister is quoted from his famous sermon “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection” as stating;
“The only way to disposses the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one. . . . Thus. . . . it is not enough. . . . to hold out to the world the mirror of its own imperfections. It is not enough to come forth with a demonstration of the evenescent charachter of your enjoyments . . . to speak to the conscience . . . of it’s follies. . . . Rather, try every legitimate method of finding access to your hearts for the love of Him who is greater than the world.” ~ Thomas Chalmers
It is very important for us as Believers to keep an upright walk in our faith. A spiritual life of rebounding sin and folly is detrimental to our lives and what we represent as Christians. There was nothing good for us in sin when we left so why should we return? I read an article once that explained several reasons why criminals return to jail once they have served their time. According to the author, one main reason is because they re-associate themselves with the same people and environments they were in when they were incarcerated. The Bible makes a graphic analogy of this type behavior in the Book of Proverbs.
11″ As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” Proverbs 26:11 NIV
Lets free ourselves from this behavior by resisting the urge to put ourselves back in the same situations that allowed us to become slaves to sin to begin with. We should remove sin from our lives and replace it with the Love and Compassion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Lets be ambassadors of Christ that represent the Kingdom of Heaven. Not for our sake, but for the sake of Christ and the unbelievers and Believers He has called us to reach out to. Lets keep the rules simple. Commit yourself to live a life of without bounce backs. Be Blessed, My Friends. Be an Overcomer!
Bro. Jason Z. Hunt
Memory Verse: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
Memory Word 1: “Backslide”: to relapse into bad habits, sinful behavior, or undesirable activities.
Memory Word 2: “Ambassador”: an authorized messenger or representative.
Inspiring Music: “Nothing But the Blood” Hillsong United/Brooke Fraser
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