The following is a blog post that was developed from a portion of Jeremy's sermon last Sunday. Wish I would have heard this when I was a freshmen:) Here is the link as well.
Four Ways for Students to Thrive at College
In his sermon Sunday, Pastor Jeremy Chasteen mentioned four ways that students can make the most of their time at college. We’ve expanded on Jeremy’s original ideas, based loosely from Alex Chediak’s book Thriving at College.
4. Be diligent in your studies.
If you are a full-time student, your full-time responsibility is your education. Although you will be pulled in many different directions with friends, jobs, campus organizations, church involvement, and other extracurricular activities, it’s crucial that you prioritize your responsibilities in the classroom. If you do not consciously and determinedly make strides in discipline and diligence during your time in college, it’s likely that you never will.
- Choose a major wisely.Identify your gifts and passions early and choose a major that interests you, then stick with it! There is a certain level of commitment necessary to prepare well for your future career. Do not waste time and resources changing majors every year. If you do think a change of major is necessary, aim to choose your next major wisely so that you do not have to change again.
- Practice effective time management. Block off time each day to read, study, or do homework. Manage your schedule and budget your time, then be disciplined enough to follow through with it. Schedule your social life around those times so that you can maximize the amount of fun you have and minimize the amount of stress. Do your best to plan each day so that you are able to accomplish all of your tasks, enjoy time with friends, and still get a good night’s sleep. For tips on making the most of your schedule, check out Dartmouth College’s website dedicated to time management resources.
- Always go to class. As a Christian, habitual class cutting can often ruin your witness to professors and classmates. Regularly attending class provides you with an unprecedented opportunity for serving others and sharing the gospel with them. Don’t forfeit these opportunities by lazily skipping class. In order to be diligent in your studies, you must make class attendance a non-negotiable. It's proven that students who skip class are exponentially more likely to fail than those who consistently attend. For the sake of your Christian witness and quality of education, go to class.
3. Prepare for life.
College is a temporary season of preparation for a life of serving God. Use your time at college to foster good habits that will prepare you for your future job, family, and ministry involvement.
- Budget your finances. Learn how to live below your means so that you can save money and avoid debt. Live in such a way so that you can give freely to your church and other worthy causes. Whether you have no money or too much money, steward it well and learn to give sacrificially.
- Seek to be disciplined in all areas of life. Exemplify hard work and holiness in your studies, relationships, campus involvement, and ministry. Remember that the decisions you make today always affect who you will be tomorrow. This means that you're not going to wake up in 10 years and suddenly have an incredible work ethic if you're not practicing diligence and discipline right now. Make a constant effort to practice good habits while in college so that you will be well prepared for life after college.
- Live like an adult. You’re not a child anymore. You no longer have the luxury of having parents help you eat, do laundry, keep up with homework, or get you to church. Do not fall to the temptation to abdicate responsibility and live undisciplined, noncommittal, irresponsible lives. Avoid the lie of prolonged adolescence. Trash the video games. Throw away the gossip magazines. Accept responsibility for your actions and seek to be a meaningful contributor to society.
2. Invest wisely in lasting relationships.
Choose these relationships wisely. The people you meet in college will likely be the people you stay connected with for the rest of your life.
- Invest in friendships with like-minded people. Choose to live with fellow Christians that will encourage your faith and hold you accountable to living on mission for Christ. When you’ve found a group of solid friends, commit to them and invest in them. It’s better to invest in a few people and have considerable influence in their lives than it is to be popular among many with little to no meaningful influence. Go deeper with a few rather than investing in several shallow relationships.
- Do not get romantically involved too quickly. Don’t be afraid to be single. Make friends with members of the opposite sex and get to know them in small group contexts. Don’t pursue a relationship unless you are ready to legitimately consider marriage. Dating around is the biggest mistake most young Christians make. Sexual temptations are too strong and self-control is often too weak for Christians to sustain purity over several romantic relationships. Be patient and trust God with your future romance. If he opens the door for a relationship, commit to it and fight for purity and holiness for your mutual sanctification. For biblically thoughtful responses to some of the most common dating-related questions among Christians, check out John Piper’s video resources.
- Pursue a relationship with an older, wiser believer. This does not mean hang out with a junior or senior when you are a freshman, although that could certainly be a good thing. Find an older man or woman in your church and ask them if they would be willing to mentor you. Email your pastor and ask him if he would be willing to meet with you. If he’s not able to, he can at least set you up with someone in the church who can. If there aren’t any older, wiser people in your church, then you should probably find a new church. If your pastor doesn't reply to member emails, you should probably find a new church.
1. Grow as a worshiper of God.
Your top priority in order to thrive in college is to grow as a worshiper of God. You are placed in a university setting for the sole purpose of glorifying God and making His name known among the nations.
- Join a local church. This is the first thing any Christian should do upon moving to a new place. Church membership provides unrivaled stability, accountability, and community for the believer. It's all too easy for college students to fill their schedules with Christian fellowship, bible studies, and campus ministry meetings while neglecting meaningful church involvement. To be sure, many college students do regularly attend church on Sundays. But the broad majority of college-aged Christians outsource their discipleship, service, and community to other groups of believers where there is little or no accountability to sound doctrine and biblical leadership. God has purposefully designed the structure and DNA of the local church to provide the best environment for believers to enjoy God while growing in Christlikeness. No other parachurch, bible study, or other rogue group of believers can grow you in Christ the way the local church can. Begin by attending a healthy church, then follow through with membership. Serve frequently and give sacrificially. For tips on how to determine whether a church is healthy or not, check out the 9 marks of a healthy church from Mark Dever's ministry online.
- Glorify God with your time, gifts, and talents. Is God going to occupy a compartment of your life, or will he be central? 1 Corinthians 10:31 says “…whether you eat or drink orwhatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” God deserves glory in every aspect of your life. Honor Him just as much while you study as you do while you worship on Sunday mornings. Offer your entire lives as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2), and not just the churchy aspects. Refuse to separate God from the mundane, “secular” aspects of your daily life.
- Share the Gospel with others. You will never again live in such close proximity to thousands of people, all relatively the same age and working toward the same goal (a higher education) -- the majority of which do not know or worship God for who He is. In Jesus’ words, “The harvest is plentiful.” Go to work in the fields of Gospel ministry. Be intentional in sharing the gospel with your classmates and professors. Engage your dorms and apartment complexes with spiritual conversations. Prepare for future ministry by ministering where you are currently. Then pray that God will use your witness. For a great evangelism resource, check out The Story online.
If you intentionally pursue these four things, your time at college will be well spent - both for your individual sanctification and for the advance of the Gospel in the community you serve.
Written by Gray Gardner and Jeremy Chasteen
