From Category: being enough
In a society which places a lot of value on the individual, Christians are faced with big questions about our self-worth.
The song ‘My Worth Is Not In What I Own’ by Keith and Kristyn Getty explains this tension well: “Two wonders here that I confess; my worth and my unworthiness.”
I have recently found myself wrestling with these parallel truths; how can we be both worthy and unworthy? What exactly did Jesus accomplish for us on the cross? What are the spiritual consequences of living in a world enslaved to sin?
I know that I need Jesus but the Bible also assures us that we each have infinite, intrinsic worth because we are image-bearers of God.
Recently on social media, there has been pushback to the idea that we are ‘enough’ simply as we are. Some Christians are concerned that such messages disregard the earth-shattering sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross.
The issue is that such teaching can quickly become self-idolising. It minimises sin, and so also Jesus. It perpetuates the idea that we can sin as much as we like because God will forgive us every time. It reduces the message of the Bible to something that is palatable and acceptable to all people.
But the Gospel will offend us. The Gospel shows us our sin, which is often much worse than we care to admit. The Gospel tells us that because this great sin, Jesus - God Incarnate - humbled Himself to come to Earth to die for the sins of the world. We see God’s love more clearly when we acknowledge our sinful state.
I don’t know if you hold to a Calvinist or an Arminian view of salvation - to be honest I don’t know which I hold to - but both agree (to an extent) on the doctrine of total depravity. This asserts that, as a result of the Fall, humans are by nature bent towards sin and selfish desires. Our whole lives long we wrestle with sin because we are by nature hostile to God and His holiness (Romans 8:7).
In this way, we are ‘not enough.’ In this way, we are depraved. Jesus died for us because it was the only way for us to be made right with God. We cannot earn our salvation by our own merit. We do nothing to earn our salvation. We are not ‘worthy’ of it because of anything we have done. We are not enough - we are completely dependent on Jesus and His sacrifice. Without Jesus, we would still be separated from God.
All that being said, we need to be careful of the pendulum swing. The Christian way is rarely at the extremes and we should not live reactionary lives. Our aim is to live like Jesus; contemplative in what we say and do. Just because there’s an issue at one end of the spectrum does not mean we should disengage and huddle at the other side.
It should be simple. We’re loved by God but we’re not able to buy our own salvation. We need Jesus to be made right with God. Why the confusion of our worth? I’m not convinced this attack on the language of ‘being enough’ is warranted. I understand the concerns but there’s nuance to this and I think we should respect that. We don't need to diminish the message of God's loving care in order to uphold the truth of our need for Jesus.
So how to tread the tightrope? I think it is important to bear the following in mind:
Finally, self-care is not a sin. It is good for us to look after our bodies and our minds.
We don’t need candles or diffusers to accomplish this. These can be great tools of course, if they work for you, but I think it’s important to decouple the idea of self-care needing to look like an aesthetic TikTok video with tinkly music in the background.
It is good to remember God’s promises and affirmations and to seek solace in who He says we are. We are His infinitely loved children and it is good for us to celebrate this truth and remind one another of it.
There are a lot of ways in which this world can knock us down, and it is important that we are reminded of our worth in Jesus.
Some verses to consider when wrestling with our worth:
I have recently found myself wrestling with these parallel truths; how can we be both worthy and unworthy? What exactly did Jesus accomplish for us on the cross? What are the spiritual consequences of living in a world enslaved to sin?
I know that I need Jesus but the Bible also assures us that we each have infinite, intrinsic worth because we are image-bearers of God.
Recently on social media, there has been pushback to the idea that we are ‘enough’ simply as we are. Some Christians are concerned that such messages disregard the earth-shattering sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross.
The issue is that such teaching can quickly become self-idolising. It minimises sin, and so also Jesus. It perpetuates the idea that we can sin as much as we like because God will forgive us every time. It reduces the message of the Bible to something that is palatable and acceptable to all people.
But the Gospel will offend us. The Gospel shows us our sin, which is often much worse than we care to admit. The Gospel tells us that because this great sin, Jesus - God Incarnate - humbled Himself to come to Earth to die for the sins of the world. We see God’s love more clearly when we acknowledge our sinful state.
I don’t know if you hold to a Calvinist or an Arminian view of salvation - to be honest I don’t know which I hold to - but both agree (to an extent) on the doctrine of total depravity. This asserts that, as a result of the Fall, humans are by nature bent towards sin and selfish desires. Our whole lives long we wrestle with sin because we are by nature hostile to God and His holiness (Romans 8:7).
In this way, we are ‘not enough.’ In this way, we are depraved. Jesus died for us because it was the only way for us to be made right with God. We cannot earn our salvation by our own merit. We do nothing to earn our salvation. We are not ‘worthy’ of it because of anything we have done. We are not enough - we are completely dependent on Jesus and His sacrifice. Without Jesus, we would still be separated from God.
All that being said, we need to be careful of the pendulum swing. The Christian way is rarely at the extremes and we should not live reactionary lives. Our aim is to live like Jesus; contemplative in what we say and do. Just because there’s an issue at one end of the spectrum does not mean we should disengage and huddle at the other side.
It should be simple. We’re loved by God but we’re not able to buy our own salvation. We need Jesus to be made right with God. Why the confusion of our worth? I’m not convinced this attack on the language of ‘being enough’ is warranted. I understand the concerns but there’s nuance to this and I think we should respect that. We don't need to diminish the message of God's loving care in order to uphold the truth of our need for Jesus.
So how to tread the tightrope? I think it is important to bear the following in mind:
1. Beware of idolatry.
When I was learning the Ten Commandments in Sunday School, I always thought I was sorted for the second commandment. I had never bowed to any statues or worshipped golden calves. Now I realise this is maybe the command I struggle with the most.
Anything can be an idol. Yoga or coffee or marriage or nationalism or theology - all of these can replace God’s place in our lives and become an idol.
In considering the balance of worth and unworthiness, I think we need to be careful of the idol of self. The self-love movement is necessary in many ways but it can feed us the notion that we should worship ourselves.
In considering the balance of worth and unworthiness, I think we need to be careful of the idol of self. The self-love movement is necessary in many ways but it can feed us the notion that we should worship ourselves.
2. Recognise that there are different stages on the spiritual journey.
Different resources will be useful to us at different stages in our faith journey. If someone is learning to swim, they don’t start in the deep end. We can be so judgy about what is fluffy or shallow or not theological enough. Some of the most pivotal books in my faith journey are not ones I would necessarily read again, but they were important stepping stones along my path. As Spurgeon said, the Gospel is revealed to us in degrees. We are all still learning.
The message that we are beloved by God, and worthy in His eyes, is no less Biblical than the truth of our desperate need for Jesus Christ. Understanding the balance between the two will come. There’s a lot of nuance in this conversation, but surely telling young people that they are enough is a much-needed message in this age of constant comparison. Some people desperately need to be reminded that they are worthy of love and enough as they are. This is a true and Biblically-founded message. We can affirm this without straying to self-worship. We don’t need to live at one of two extremes.
3. We should honour our bodies and our minds.
Finally, self-care is not a sin. It is good for us to look after our bodies and our minds.
We don’t need candles or diffusers to accomplish this. These can be great tools of course, if they work for you, but I think it’s important to decouple the idea of self-care needing to look like an aesthetic TikTok video with tinkly music in the background.
It is good to remember God’s promises and affirmations and to seek solace in who He says we are. We are His infinitely loved children and it is good for us to celebrate this truth and remind one another of it.
There are a lot of ways in which this world can knock us down, and it is important that we are reminded of our worth in Jesus.
Some verses to consider when wrestling with our worth:
- “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, ESV.)
- “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17, ESV.)
- “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6-7, ESV.)
- “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20, ESV.)
- “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12, ESV.)
- “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2: 8-10, ESV.)
14 September 2021
I wrote this on another blog in 2017, but wanted to post it here too.
So often, we allow our thoughts and actions to be dictated by what others think. We are the generation of social media; of carefully tailoring what we do and do not put on Facebook or Instagram. If you’re anything like me, that Instagram caption takes some thinking time before it’s posted; Is it funny? Is it cool? Is it grammatically correct? Maybe you’re not as shallow as I am regarding Instagram captions but chances are you’ve still gotten caught up caring what others think about you. Maybe it’s not online; maybe you care about what other people will think about the clothes you wear or the model of phone you have. How pretty or handsome they think you are. And let’s dig deeper: getting back grades from college professors, being promoted to the ‘A’ Team in sports, getting a standing ovation for a musical performance. Our talents can very easily become idols. Even when we have the best intentions, we can still put our focus on the wrong thing. I was meeting my boyfriend’s parents for the first time a couple of months ago and I was terrified. For a week beforehand I was obsessed with what they would think of me. It wasn’t until we were about ten minutes away from meeting them that a post popped up in my newsfeed: “You are a daughter of the King of Heaven.”
Identities
See, that’s the thing: other people’s opinions shouldn’t matter because they are not the ones who get to define you. As a Christian, your identity (how you are defined) is found in your status as a child of God.
So, I am a girl, a geologist, a ballerina, a foreigner, a student, somebody’s sister, somebody’s daughter. But none of these labels matter in light of my true identity, the only label I want to wear: I am a loved child of God, Maker of Heaven and Earth who loved me so much that two thousand years ago, before anyone on Earth had the slightest inkling of my existence, He sent His Son to die on a cross for my sins.
I am a child of God. That is my identity. That is the label I wear. Every other label that someone puts on me is meaningless in comparison. Their opinion of me, whether they hold me in high esteem or think me about equal to the scum on their shoes; it doesn’t matter.
At the end of the day, we live in a world filled with sinners and sin. If we try to derive our identities from things or people of this world, we will get hurt. We will be seeking validation and substance from things that cannot give that to us. God is the One who created us and has planned every detail for our lives. Surely then, there is no better place to find our identity than from Him?
In Romans 8:17, Paul writes that we are “co-heirs with Christ.” What a privilege! It’s so easy sometimes to lose sight of that amazing fact – that we are co-heirs with Christ, children of God. I find it such a relief whenever I get bogged down by the inane and frankly unimportant niggly things of this world – I am God’s child. That is the most important thing. That is the most important part of my identity.
Talents
I touched on the idea of talents becoming idols a bit earlier. This is an interesting concept – one of those classic ‘get the balance right’ lessons. So we know that God has given us all talents and that He intends for us to use them to His glory (check out the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30). But we also know that we are to have no idols before God. It took me a while to realise how easily idols are actually made. When I was younger I almost skipped past that commandment, assuming that since I didn’t pray to any golden calves I wasn’t in any danger of breaking it. Of course, our idols can be a lot more subtle than that.
And what is more subtle than dedicating yourself to that sport you play so well, working hard and trying your best the way the Bible tells you to? If this is a talent that God has bestowed upon you do you not then have the responsibility to use it? Well yes…and no. See, there’s a difference between glorifying God with your talents and becoming so caught up in your talents that you make them your new idol.
For me, this manifests in academics. I often have to remind myself that God’s plans are a lot larger and a whole lot better than my own. So I might plan on diligently pursuing a first-class honours degree but if that’s not what God has planned then I need to accept that He knows best. Sure, He has blessed me with some academic ability and I should not waste that gift but I don’t think it’s right for me to get so hung up about grades and exams that they replace Him.
All these talents are gifts from God.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)
God is the One who has decided to bless some of us with athletic prowess, others with a mind for numbers, for someone else it is languages, another hospitality, another kindness, another gentleness. Let us not forget who it is we are serving.
Golden Stars and Grey Dots
If you haven’t heard it already I would strongly recommend you read ‘You Are Special’ by Max Lucado. In a quick summary: this is a story about wooden puppets called Wemmicks who are carved by the woodcarver Eli. The puppets stick stickers on each other; golden stars for those they liked or grey dots for those with less desirable traits. One day, Punchinello, a Wemmick covered in grey dots for his clumsiness, meets another Wemmick called Lucia. Lucia has no gold stars and no grey dots. She is void of any stickers, void of wearing the labels of any other Wemmicks. When Punchinello asks her how this is, she explains that she knows Eli, the woodcarver, who tells her she is special just as she is.
This is a beautiful children’s story but I feel it’s one that resonates with us all. When we know God we are no longer defined by the labels other people stick on us, whether they are good or bad. Those stickers fall off us, they cannot get a foothold because we know that in the eyes of the One who truly matters, our God and Father, we are already loved, exactly as we are.
To conclude
So, after all that rambling do you see what I’m getting at? It’s all just a big circle, looping back to God over and over again. You are already loved by the One who loves you more than anybody else could ever dream of loving you. That’s why all these earthly thing (people’s opinions included) don’t matter; only God matters. Love Him, love His people and love yourself. Love, love, love.
God made you. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. He knows the plans He has for you. He created you for a reason, and He has a purpose for your life.
No matter what anybody else thinks you can rest in this truth: He loves us.
Remember: as much as this applies to you it also applies to others. Judging others and labelling them is a sin I fall into very easily and something I am trying really hard to improve. I have no right to judge others. I can only try to love them with the same love that God has for me.
So often, we allow our thoughts and actions to be dictated by what others think. We are the generation of social media; of carefully tailoring what we do and do not put on Facebook or Instagram. If you’re anything like me, that Instagram caption takes some thinking time before it’s posted; Is it funny? Is it cool? Is it grammatically correct? Maybe you’re not as shallow as I am regarding Instagram captions but chances are you’ve still gotten caught up caring what others think about you. Maybe it’s not online; maybe you care about what other people will think about the clothes you wear or the model of phone you have. How pretty or handsome they think you are. And let’s dig deeper: getting back grades from college professors, being promoted to the ‘A’ Team in sports, getting a standing ovation for a musical performance. Our talents can very easily become idols. Even when we have the best intentions, we can still put our focus on the wrong thing. I was meeting my boyfriend’s parents for the first time a couple of months ago and I was terrified. For a week beforehand I was obsessed with what they would think of me. It wasn’t until we were about ten minutes away from meeting them that a post popped up in my newsfeed: “You are a daughter of the King of Heaven.”
Identities
See, that’s the thing: other people’s opinions shouldn’t matter because they are not the ones who get to define you. As a Christian, your identity (how you are defined) is found in your status as a child of God.
So, I am a girl, a geologist, a ballerina, a foreigner, a student, somebody’s sister, somebody’s daughter. But none of these labels matter in light of my true identity, the only label I want to wear: I am a loved child of God, Maker of Heaven and Earth who loved me so much that two thousand years ago, before anyone on Earth had the slightest inkling of my existence, He sent His Son to die on a cross for my sins.
I am a child of God. That is my identity. That is the label I wear. Every other label that someone puts on me is meaningless in comparison. Their opinion of me, whether they hold me in high esteem or think me about equal to the scum on their shoes; it doesn’t matter.
At the end of the day, we live in a world filled with sinners and sin. If we try to derive our identities from things or people of this world, we will get hurt. We will be seeking validation and substance from things that cannot give that to us. God is the One who created us and has planned every detail for our lives. Surely then, there is no better place to find our identity than from Him?
In Romans 8:17, Paul writes that we are “co-heirs with Christ.” What a privilege! It’s so easy sometimes to lose sight of that amazing fact – that we are co-heirs with Christ, children of God. I find it such a relief whenever I get bogged down by the inane and frankly unimportant niggly things of this world – I am God’s child. That is the most important thing. That is the most important part of my identity.
Talents
I touched on the idea of talents becoming idols a bit earlier. This is an interesting concept – one of those classic ‘get the balance right’ lessons. So we know that God has given us all talents and that He intends for us to use them to His glory (check out the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30). But we also know that we are to have no idols before God. It took me a while to realise how easily idols are actually made. When I was younger I almost skipped past that commandment, assuming that since I didn’t pray to any golden calves I wasn’t in any danger of breaking it. Of course, our idols can be a lot more subtle than that.
And what is more subtle than dedicating yourself to that sport you play so well, working hard and trying your best the way the Bible tells you to? If this is a talent that God has bestowed upon you do you not then have the responsibility to use it? Well yes…and no. See, there’s a difference between glorifying God with your talents and becoming so caught up in your talents that you make them your new idol.
For me, this manifests in academics. I often have to remind myself that God’s plans are a lot larger and a whole lot better than my own. So I might plan on diligently pursuing a first-class honours degree but if that’s not what God has planned then I need to accept that He knows best. Sure, He has blessed me with some academic ability and I should not waste that gift but I don’t think it’s right for me to get so hung up about grades and exams that they replace Him.
All these talents are gifts from God.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)
God is the One who has decided to bless some of us with athletic prowess, others with a mind for numbers, for someone else it is languages, another hospitality, another kindness, another gentleness. Let us not forget who it is we are serving.
Golden Stars and Grey Dots
If you haven’t heard it already I would strongly recommend you read ‘You Are Special’ by Max Lucado. In a quick summary: this is a story about wooden puppets called Wemmicks who are carved by the woodcarver Eli. The puppets stick stickers on each other; golden stars for those they liked or grey dots for those with less desirable traits. One day, Punchinello, a Wemmick covered in grey dots for his clumsiness, meets another Wemmick called Lucia. Lucia has no gold stars and no grey dots. She is void of any stickers, void of wearing the labels of any other Wemmicks. When Punchinello asks her how this is, she explains that she knows Eli, the woodcarver, who tells her she is special just as she is.
This is a beautiful children’s story but I feel it’s one that resonates with us all. When we know God we are no longer defined by the labels other people stick on us, whether they are good or bad. Those stickers fall off us, they cannot get a foothold because we know that in the eyes of the One who truly matters, our God and Father, we are already loved, exactly as we are.
To conclude
So, after all that rambling do you see what I’m getting at? It’s all just a big circle, looping back to God over and over again. You are already loved by the One who loves you more than anybody else could ever dream of loving you. That’s why all these earthly thing (people’s opinions included) don’t matter; only God matters. Love Him, love His people and love yourself. Love, love, love.
God made you. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. He knows the plans He has for you. He created you for a reason, and He has a purpose for your life.
No matter what anybody else thinks you can rest in this truth: He loves us.
Remember: as much as this applies to you it also applies to others. Judging others and labelling them is a sin I fall into very easily and something I am trying really hard to improve. I have no right to judge others. I can only try to love them with the same love that God has for me.
07 October 2017
College is right around the corner! (Or quite possibly already under your feet if yours likes to make an early start.) So what does that mean for a Christian in college? Well, plenty: the end of a summer quite possibly fuelled by camps and conferences which have left you on a spiritual high, maybe a move to another city, returning to the classrooms and lecture halls ready for loads of learning ;), meeting new people or catching up with old friends, a new routine (for studying and socialising).
But as Christians, we are called to more than the daily slog; we’re called to take up our crosses daily and live out our lives for Jesus. We are meant to be the bright lights and stars in this dark world, shining for the Lord, spreading His love and the Good News and trying every day to live like Jesus did. Read on for some reminders that’ll hopefully help you as you try to imitate Christ in your college life.
You’ve may have heard this verse quoted before but I’m going to do it again because it’s so applicable: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6).
It’s so true! God cares about the lilies in the field and the sparrows of the air, He’s not going to forget about us! He loves us with a crazy momentous love that’s far too large and great for our little human brains to understand but He loves us!
I think we’ve all become control freaks, whether we recognise it or not, and we refuse to wholly fully trust in God. We always make our own Plan B’s and we have back-ups and we struggle about in the sand trying to do things our own way. But our God is a loving God who we can trust to take care of us and all our problems. In fact, He calls us to give up our problems to Him; “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).
Our God is bigger than any problems we may face in our time in college; be they exams, finances, friends, relationships, living out the Gospel, God is in control. What a great comfort we can find in that! Our God can handle them all!
Think about it. How many Christians do your friends know? In my college it’s a pretty slim chance they’ll know more than two or three devout Christians their own age. That means that the way they see me living my life is playing a large part in the kind of image they form about Christianity. That’s a massive responsibility!
And let’s add to this: This is a 24-hour gig. There’s no time off. At all times we are called to live like this. We can’t pick and choose the bits of our lives that we want to live in a Christ-like manner and the bits that we’d rather ignore Him. It is all for Him. As the song goes: Jesus, all for Jesus. All I am and have and ever hope to be.
Now, I mess up so much. It saddens me to think of the amount of times I’ve missed or spoiled an evangelism opportunity because of my own embarrassment or just sheer ignorance. And chances are you guys mess up a good bit too (no judgment guys, just yanno, we’re all sinners). But we can pray to God for help. He’s not going to leave us on our own. With His help, we can strive at all times to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel.
It is easy to love those who love us back. It requires a lot more of us to love those who annoy us, those who are rude to us, those who are strange and won’t boost our super-cool factor.
Jesus calls us to love our neighbours and that means loving even those who are difficult to love. How difficult is it really to give someone a smile? A smile is such a small gesture but it can have such a big impact. Be kind and compassionate and love your neighbour as yourself.
When I first started college I spent the first few months doubting myself. I can’t remember the amount of times that I had to tell myself that I deserved to be in college just as much as everyone else around me, no matter how much cleverer, funnier, friendlier, prettier or more exciting they were.
We are children, loved children, of the King. He loves us. He will care for us. He will never leave us. And that’s the blessed assurance we cling to.
“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
– Zephaniah 3:17.
““For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.””
– Jeremiah 29:11.
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
– 2 Corinthians 4:18.
But as Christians, we are called to more than the daily slog; we’re called to take up our crosses daily and live out our lives for Jesus. We are meant to be the bright lights and stars in this dark world, shining for the Lord, spreading His love and the Good News and trying every day to live like Jesus did. Read on for some reminders that’ll hopefully help you as you try to imitate Christ in your college life.
1) Remember God is with you. Do not worry. He is in control.
First and foremost, remember that we have a Mighty God who is capable of all things. Through Him all things are possible. You’re not alone in this momentous task. God has sent His Holy Spirit to help us. He’s not leaving us out on our own.You’ve may have heard this verse quoted before but I’m going to do it again because it’s so applicable: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6).
It’s so true! God cares about the lilies in the field and the sparrows of the air, He’s not going to forget about us! He loves us with a crazy momentous love that’s far too large and great for our little human brains to understand but He loves us!
I think we’ve all become control freaks, whether we recognise it or not, and we refuse to wholly fully trust in God. We always make our own Plan B’s and we have back-ups and we struggle about in the sand trying to do things our own way. But our God is a loving God who we can trust to take care of us and all our problems. In fact, He calls us to give up our problems to Him; “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28).
Our God is bigger than any problems we may face in our time in college; be they exams, finances, friends, relationships, living out the Gospel, God is in control. What a great comfort we can find in that! Our God can handle them all!
2) Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel.
We are called to be ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). This is both a privilege (we are co-heirs with Christ! Us! Me! With all my sin and fumbling through life!) and a responsibility. If we call ourselves Christians, then every day we are witnessing to those around us. It’s amazing how much people pick up, even sub-consciously, just from how we live. The lifestyle choices we make, the way we interact with others (both those we know well and those we don’t know at all), whether or not God is our top priority in all situations; these are the subtle yet so extremely powerful ways in which we are witnessing to those around us.Think about it. How many Christians do your friends know? In my college it’s a pretty slim chance they’ll know more than two or three devout Christians their own age. That means that the way they see me living my life is playing a large part in the kind of image they form about Christianity. That’s a massive responsibility!
And let’s add to this: This is a 24-hour gig. There’s no time off. At all times we are called to live like this. We can’t pick and choose the bits of our lives that we want to live in a Christ-like manner and the bits that we’d rather ignore Him. It is all for Him. As the song goes: Jesus, all for Jesus. All I am and have and ever hope to be.
Now, I mess up so much. It saddens me to think of the amount of times I’ve missed or spoiled an evangelism opportunity because of my own embarrassment or just sheer ignorance. And chances are you guys mess up a good bit too (no judgment guys, just yanno, we’re all sinners). But we can pray to God for help. He’s not going to leave us on our own. With His help, we can strive at all times to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel.
3) Love your neighbours.
College can so quickly become a social game. That’s great! I love my college friends and I don’t see anything wrong with hanging out with them. In fact, I feel quite strongly that God has given me this group of friends to be a witness to and to talk to them about Him. But what about the lost and the lonely? The people immediately labelled as too ‘weird’ or ‘different’ to talk to.It is easy to love those who love us back. It requires a lot more of us to love those who annoy us, those who are rude to us, those who are strange and won’t boost our super-cool factor.
Jesus calls us to love our neighbours and that means loving even those who are difficult to love. How difficult is it really to give someone a smile? A smile is such a small gesture but it can have such a big impact. Be kind and compassionate and love your neighbour as yourself.
4) God loves you. Don’t doubt your self-worth. You are a child of the King.
At the end of the day, the call of Christianity is “Come home.” From there, from inside God’s loving arms, we grow each day and become more and more like Him through the work of His Holy Spirit, through studying the Bible, through spending time with God in prayer. God loves you. The Maker of the Universe, the divine God who is the only God, who knows all things and sees all things and can do all things, He loves you and me! How crazy is that.When I first started college I spent the first few months doubting myself. I can’t remember the amount of times that I had to tell myself that I deserved to be in college just as much as everyone else around me, no matter how much cleverer, funnier, friendlier, prettier or more exciting they were.
We are children, loved children, of the King. He loves us. He will care for us. He will never leave us. And that’s the blessed assurance we cling to.
Bible verses
I don’t know about you but for me all of this can get quite overwhelming. So I’ve included some Bible verses to help:“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
– Zephaniah 3:17.
““For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.””
– Jeremiah 29:11.
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
– 2 Corinthians 4:18.
Prayer
My prayer for you this new college season is that you will grow in your love for God and for those around you. I pray that you will settle well into your colleges and that you will be able to join Christian societies and churches that will further encourage you in your walk with God. I pray that you will always know how deep and how wonderful God’s love for you is.07 September 2017
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