I spoke yesterday with a young woman about going to college. Accepted at several schools, it’s time to pack and go but to which one? Her first choice seems to be a church-related university but she’s concerned because some of its professors and activities do not esteem biblical truth and morality. The loss of “Christian” culture evident in society-at-large is also present in this university. And so she and her family are concerned about her faith.
“And he said to his disciples, ‘Temptations are sure to come’” (Luke 17:1). When students arrive at the Seminary, they are told that it is a place of spiritual warfare. You would think it’s not; it’s a church school seemingly cocooned away from the world where Jesus Christ and His truth is held high. Since the devil tempted Jesus on a pinnacle of the temple, he’ll not hesitate to tempt students in a conservative university as well as in one that’s more liberal (Luke 4:9). It’s not the surroundings; it’s what’s in the heart (Mark 7:18).
Our prayer is that followers of Jesus go off to school knowing that they are “in the world but not of the world.” When young Jacob left home to pursue his life, God promised, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go” (Genesis 28:15). When Jacob’s son Joseph was sold into slavery, the temptations Jesus promises will come to us came to Joseph every day, but he resisted. “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9). When four of God’s young people went to a foreign place of learning, they kept their faith through the most trying of temptations. To Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, “God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom.” Through the lions’ den and the fiery furnace they kept their faith (Daniel 1:17; 3; 6).
The church sends its young people to college and university with prayers for the students and family. When challenges to faith come, as they surely will, there will be faithful Christians on campus for peer support, family phone conversations, and contact with the pastor back home. “My professor said this. Is that true?” You’ll be apprehensive when you leave home, but you’ll never be alone. “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).
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