Crunch time
Well it is the end of the quarter, and i do not think it would be much of a stretch or assumption, but rather a fact that most of us Christian college students are stressing out right now about finals and/ or complaining about final projects due soon.
But i encourage you guys during this week especially to not give up devotional time and quiet times to study. It is not worth it. Of all the things one can take out of their lives for one week, spending time with God is not one of them, or should not be. Before being students of our majors we are foremost Christians and students of God’s word.
The most common excuse i hear for why ditch our disciplines for school is: that God wants them to do well in school. And i completely agree with their statement. God does want us to do our best in school and use the gifts he gave us, but never at the expense of the relationship we have with Him. To sacrifice your relationship with God for school amounts to nothing but idolatry.
And I should qualify this- I am not saying you should spend all your time reading God’s Word and not studying. There is a time for everything, but look at your life, and see if school regularly becomes an idol and if it is lay it down before God.
Here is the real twist though. At this point some of you may think: “i do sacrifice time with God for studying and it does affect my relationship with Him”. Before you immediately throw studying out the window, examine whether you are using your time wisely. For i am sure that most of us are not as diligent and committed to schooling as we could be, and thus we really do not need to give up devotions and such, but rather the other activities that take up our time. However we are so prone to give up our relationship with God first rather than any of our other activities, and such should not be the case.
In summary for those who got lost, and those who are skimming to get back to that studying, Don’t Ditch God for anything. (notice the period), but before sacrificing studying, sacrifice all the other extra activities you do first, and then if need be, spend time with God over studying. I feel confident though, that most students can fit both God and all the studying they need in their lives, it just takes discipline.
-Derek Harada