Collegiates Casually Committed to Christ

Many college students treat their spiritual life like a compartmentalized doggie box.

You know those types of boxes that have different compartments for the different types of food?  Due to a fear of the food touching, it keeps these different items separate from one another.  Many students I know do that with the different sections of their lives.

  • You have your relationships in this big section. 
  • In the side section, you have your college major. 
  • Your leisure time is in another compartment. 
  • You finish off your box with a side of Jesus, and life as you know it is great.  

It’s great as long as everything stays in its proper place.  You probably are aware of Jesus’ reputation that he likes to try to move into other sections, but you are making your best attempts at keeping him at bay.  You love Jesus.  When you need Jesus, you call on him.  In reality, he is a part of your life, and you don’t intend him to be any more than that.

There’s just one problem: Christ was never meant to be a part of your life.  He is your life (Col. 3:4).  

You can’t be a collegiate casually committed to Christ – it just never works.

He desires to take every compartment of your life and mix it together into one gigantic casserole where he has reign over every area.  If you truly desire him to be your one thing in college, you give him complete freedom to do as he wishes in your life.  Your time, relationships, school work, activities, date life, religious activities, and everything else you can think of coming under his influence. 

In college students’ social media profiles, I am often overwhelmed by the conflicting messages.  So many college students post how important Christ is in their lives.  Statements like “Jesus is everything” or “I’m nothing without God” or “faith is the most important thing in my life” are seen so much they almost lose their meaning.  They truly lose their meaning when other areas of a student’s profile celebrate blatant rejections of God’s standards. 

Students desiring hell insurance apart from expected obedience fill the halls of every college.

A few years ago, I knew a lady who uttered the words I think many college students inwardly feel.  When discussing the expectations of a disciple of Jesus, this person stated, “Whatever happened to just being saved?”  By this statement, she tried to justify her carefree behavior and negligence of obedience to Christ.  Whatever happened to saying a prayer, getting a promise of eternity in heaven, and then just living however you wanted for the rest of your life?

Many college students desire to have the benefits of Jesus without the commitment to Jesus.  

If Jesus is your one thing, you have to begin to surrender every area in your life to him.

Freshman fifteen is an Americanized concept proposing that when students conclude their freshman year at college, they are approximately fifteen pounds heavier than when that school year began. Every college student will gain weight in college, but that doesn’t have to be a negative thing. People in the ancient world spoke of giving weight to something as giving it glory or heightening it to a place of significance in one’s life. In your time at college, you will put on the freshmen fifteen. I would just recommend that you put it on in all the right places.

What would it look like if you gave glory to Jesus Christ in every area of your life in college? Freshman 15 contains fifteen specific areas in which college students can practically give Jesus weight or glory.