Lander BCM: What to Do With the Letter You Received

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If you are reading this and you are a Lander BCM student, you probably have already received your letter in the mail.  This letter was different than most mail you receive, this is a letter you sent to yourself.  You wrote this on September 17th.  I told you that I would give you about two months before putting it in the mail.  It should have contained your thoughts on what you were going to do over the next two months concerning growing in Christ.

Did you do it?

Was the letter received with joy due to all the progress you have made?  Or was it received with disappointment because you haven’t done what you promised yourself?

No matter what you answered, it really doesn’t matter.  God is a lot more concerned with today than He is yesterday.  You received written desires that came from your own hand, and it is not too late to begin.  I know it’s November which normally means it is time to shut down for college students in so many ways, but let this letter be a reminder that you can be so much more than you are right now.  If you are directionless about how to grow or feel like you tried with no success, let me ask you some questions to get started:

  • Are you regularly in God’s Word? You can’t grow closer to God if you don’t learn more about Him and what it means to be obedient to Him (John 17:17).  Start with James, Philippians, or 1Peter.  Read through some everyday.  When you read something that you aren’t obedient to, stop right then and talk to God about it.  Work on it.  Meditate on that verse.  Memorize it.  Apply it.
  • How is your prayer life? If you only pray when you are in trouble, then you’re in bigger trouble than you think you are (1 Thess 5:17).  Get a notecard and write out the days of the week and decide what you are going to pray about each day for the next week (e.g. Sunday – my church’s ministers, Monday – those on my dorm hall, Tuesday – BCM leaders, etc.).
  • Who is closest to you? My rule is the people closest to me must be closest to God.  If you are not growing, there is a good chance you are not around friends who are growing.  So either you need to talk with them about getting serious about discipleship or you need some new closest people in your life (Prov 27:17).
  • Are you still church hopping/shopping? If you have found yourself visiting church after church and never really plugging in, you are missing God’s design for your life.  Many college students who only attach themselves to a campus ministry feel lost after college because they never connected to church.  The campus ministry became their church.  I’m talking about even more than attending the same place each week – I mean get involved.  Stop going to the church and be the church.  Are you in some type of small group discipleship?  Are you serving?  Don’t be a random attender to that which God has called us to belong (Eph 4:12)!
  • Any sin weighing you down? Most often, people who are trying to follow Jesus have been weighed down by some habitual sin.  If that’s you, go and sin no more.  Stop it.  If you are like me, you might not be strong enough to fight it alone.  Find an accountability partner.  Get someone to check up on you, encourage you, and to walk with you as you try to get rid of those things slowing you down from following Jesus (Heb 12:1-2).

Whatever you do, don’t just do nothing.  Today is a new day, and you just received a reminder that you want more out of your life than what you are getting.  So partner with the Holy Spirit and do something about it today!