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In William
Shakespeare’s Hamlet the father Polonius gives this advice to his
son Laertes as he departs for college in Germany. The advice is over 400
years old now!
“My blessing
be with thee, and these few precepts in thy memory be. See thou to thy
character. Give thy thoughts no tongue. Be thou familiar, by no means
vulgar. The tried friends thou hast, grapple them to thy soul with hoops
of steel. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy; neither a borrower nor a
lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend. This above all: To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the day the night thou canst
not then be false to any man. Farewell.”
There comes
the day when we go off to high school or venture to college ourselves.
And from the Bible I have some heavenly Fatherly advice for you.
Deuteronomy
27:2 is about the children of Israel who have come from slavery in Egypt
through 40 years of wilderness. Now they are poised to cross the Jordan
River and settle the Promised Land. But first, the Lord sits them down to
give them some advice: things to do on the first day they pass over the
Jordan. And here are some “musts” for you to accomplish starting on the
first day you put your feet on a campus.
Declare Yourself
First,
declare yourself. Find a way to say to those around you, “I am a
Christian. Let there be no mistake. Christ is how I think and act. He
is what I want.”
In Matthew
5:14-16, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a
hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and hide it under a
bushel, but they put it on a stand. And it gives light to all in the
house.” Immediately upon entering the collegiate world, put your light on
a stand. If you keep silent the first day, you’ll keep quiet the next
four years. Don’t hide your faith under a bushel. Find a way to declare
yourself.
I went off to
Furman University in 1968. A newly committed Christian, I was timid and
most certainly afraid of failure. I took with me my Bible which I put on
my study desk. And I hung a picture of the “rugged” Christ by Thomas Hook
on my wall. I was serving notice, “My life belongs to Jesus!”
My roommate
walked in. He was a Greek from Atlanta. His name was Demetrius Poniote
Parisis, which he’d Americanized to Jimmy Paris. He took one look at my
picture of Jesus and my Bible, asked me if I was religious. I said, “No,
but I’m a Christian.” He mumbled something under his breath and pulled
out his Playboy magazine and hung Miss September on his wall.
Jesus and
Miss September stared at one another for the better part of six months.
And Jimmy and I would lie awake nights talking about life, God, Christ,
faith and sin. Then one day Jimmy trusted Christ. And soon afterwards
Miss September came down.
Declare
yourself! Fly your colors from day one! It does not have to be as I did
it. Perhaps you can use a poster or wear a cross. Certainly it is in
your lifestyle, your language, the books lining your shelves or in the
music you listen to. However you do it, do it! And do it on day one!
Quiet Time
One of the
first things we learn about Jesus is that He rose a good deal earlier than
everyone else and went out to a lonely spot where He prayed (Mark 1:35).
And the Bible promises us that in such “quietness and trust shall be your
strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
Believing
this, I determined to have a daily devotion early each morning. So, I
rose at 6 AM, jogged three miles, enjoyed a quiet time with Christ in the
bell tower, took a shower, ate a big breakfast and went to my 8 o’clock
class where I immediately fell asleep.
After two
weeks of being overly zealous I started sleeping later and arranging my
daily devotional between 10 and 11 o’clock. I’d get a cup of tea between
classes and return to my room, lock the door, sit in my rocker and read
the Bible and pray for 45 minutes.
Now, I
realize that most people struggle with regular devotions. Boredom,
frustration, aimlessness, distraction, falling asleep… all these and more
are very real hindrances. Brother Lawrence wrote a book on devotional
life called Practicing the Presence of God. And people traveled
from all over the world to meet him, to express their gratitude for his
writings and ask how their quiet ways with God could be improved. And
Brother Lawrence advised, “Just do it. God is not as particular about
our devotions as we are. He just wants to spend time with us.”
Two things need to
happen in any healthy devotion. One: let God speak to you as you read the
Bible. Two: you speak to God in prayer. It can happen as you jog or
walk, in a rocking chair, in the early morning hours, or as you take a
break during the day. Just do it!
My quiet time
was then, and still is, a constant source of comfort, correction,
inspiration, and energy. Through it, God developed my inner life and
readied me for the challenge of each day.
Fellowship
A third stone for you
to set up the day you pass over into school is fellowship. Hebrews 10:25
warns us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 points out how a three-fold cord is not quickly broken
and a person with friends is likewise hard to overpower.
A question I
frequently ask students is, “What fellowship do you maintain?” Often as
not, I get vague answers that tell me the student is hanging loose with
very little commitment to other Christians.
Dr. Karl
Jung, the famous psychiatrist, once told a patient, “I’ve done all I can
for you. What you need is God.” “How can I find Him?” the
patient inquired. To which the good doctor replied, “Go to a group of
loving Christians. Spend time with them. You’ll most certainly find Him
there.”
Jesus
promised, “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the
midst of them.”
On most
college campuses you’ll find solid, edifying fellowship with Intervarsity,
Campus Crusade, the Navigators, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and
in some area churches. Seek it out and give yourself to it regularly.
My freshman
year in a small group Bible study I met Kitty Kirk, a sophomore. Her
maturity level appealed to me, so I went to her. “Kitty, I need some help
surviving my freshman year. Could we meet once a week to talk and pray?
Could we make a commitment to be there for each other, to share, to hold
each other accountable?” She agreed. And we met for supper Thursdays for
about an hour. And, oh! The heavy load that was eased when two walked
together! I couldn’t have made it without her!
Peer Pressure
Another stone
to set up the day you pass over into the collegiate Promised Land is
learning to resist peer pressure and temptation.
Years ago I
was at a Georgia Tech football game. It was halftime and the band had
just left the field. Suddenly a little dog ran out on the fifty-yard
line, wagged his tail, and barked happily. From somewhere in the crowd a
voice called, “Here, Tippy! Here, boy!” and beckoned with a whistle.
The dog brightened at the sound of his master’s voice and took a few steps
in that direction, when suddenly a thousand voices began to whistle and
call, “Here, Tippy! Here, boy!” The dog whirled around in utter
confusion until a referee finally scooped him up and carried him off the
field. And isn’t Tippy’s story so like our own?
What we need
to have settled long before we put our feet on a college campus is the
question of destination. I tell students, “Find out where you want to go
before you start the journey.” This means goals! The sort of grades you
want to earn. The physical shape you want to stay in. The virginity you
maintain for marriage. The character you will bring to adulthood. Too
many of us have no fixed goals. Therefore we are wandering generalities
instead of focused specifics.
Deuteronomy
27 explains that the Ten Commandments are the limits of acceptable
behavior for God’s people. They were to carry them with them on the day
they crossed the Jordan. And such laws are not inhibitive in the least!
They are rather a fence around God’s people inside of which the good
things of life can run wild.
If you decide
whose you are and what your limits are ahead of time, then when temptation
calls your name, it will be easy enough to ask, “Will this help get me
where I want to go in life?”
When I was a
freshman several fraternities rushed me. And I decided to join one. As a
shy person I figured the socializing would help balance my personality.
And it would be as good a place as any to witness for Jesus Christ.
During one
particular rush party the brothers had asked a certain girl to stick with
me, show me a good time, and make certain I pledged their club. So during
the night she let me know in subtle ways that I could have anything I
wanted.
About 10
o’clock she suggested we go out for a ride. And I knew what that meant.
Parking. Making out. Sex. And let me tell you I was tempted. It had
been a hard semester. I was lonely. No one would have to know. God
would forgive me, surely.
The Bible
says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not
common to men. God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted
beyond your strength, but will with the temptation offer a way of escape,
that you may be able to endure it.”
So here I am
walking out the door with this girl. I know this sort of behavior we have
in mind is prohibited in the Ten Commandments. I know it’s not going to
help me get where I want to go in life. So where’s my “way of escape” 1
Corinthians 10:13 talks about?
There on the
wall was a poster of Mexico. I’d just been there the summer before on a
missions project. So I said, “Look! Mexico City!” She said, “Have you
been there?” “Yes,” I said, “this past summer.” “I’m a Spanish major,”
she went on. “What took you to Mexico?” “I was there doing Christian
mission work,” I confessed. And we ended up sitting in a Pizza Hut
talking about life and Christ. And before the year was out, Brenda had
become a Christian.
The Academic Challenge
Passing on
from declaring yourself, developing a regular devotional life, maintaining
Christian fellowship, and overcoming temptation, let’s look briefly at
meeting the academic challenge.
Fact: There
are no bad teachers in college. Some are excellent. Others are merely
fine examples of how not to be. And as you are in school to learn, you
can learn something from anyone.
I challenge
you to treat college as a nine-hour workday. If you weren’t in school,
you’d have to get a job doing something! And your job would certainly
require 8 or 9 hours of your time! So go to class, sit on the front row,
look interested, ask questions. Take good notes. The professor will read
the signals that you’re there for the same reason he is--to teach and to
learn. And it will help his attitude when he grades your papers.
Do your
studying hidden upstairs in the stacks of the library. You won’t be
distracted as you would be downstairs or back in your dorm room. And
expect to study 4 hours a day minimum. Keeping up with your homework is
always better than catching up. A little along is forever better than
cramming.
Paul told
young Timothy to “Study to show thyself approved unto God.” Jesus urged
us in the Great Commandment to “love God with all your mind....” So never be
afraid to confront a new thought, to examine a subject, to read a book.
Every time you do such a thing there will be just that much more of you to
love God.
Learn to be
open-minded but discerning. The Bible says, “Test everything.” Avoid
the extremes of being close-minded on the one hand, and so open-minded on
the other hand that your brain falls out.
Here in the
city there is one place that is completely open with 100% tolerance. It
will receive anything. We call it the garbage dump! See to it that your
mind does not become too open. Be discerning what you accept as fact.
Ask for evidence, proof, authority. What does the Bible say? Your mind
is like an oven. Accept the fresh dough of learning and bake it there
into the bread of practical living.
And a further
point. If you disagree with a professor, do so in an agreeable manner.
Never try to take over a class or to embarrass your teacher in public.
Make an appointment with him or her. Go in prepared, humble and willing
to debate things in a civil manner. You’ll get further in the long run.
Suffering
One final
point: When you cross over into college life, don’t be afraid to suffer.
College for me was a lonely time filled with many an anguish and many an
unfulfilled longing. The experience of youth turning into adult,
ignorance giving way to education, and weakness becoming strength is a
process fraught with all manner of hurt. Don’t quit. Don’t run away.
Don’t try to avoid it. Go through it, with Christ, to maturity. Sure
you’ll make mistakes. Sure you’ll get confused. You’ll go through
intense times of self-examination. You’ll face persecution, break up with
your lovers, fail a test, and much more.
But like Job
who went through the fire and came forth as refined gold, you’ll be able
to say to God, “Once I heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now I
behold Thee face to face.”
Conclusion
So you’re going off to school, crossing over Jordan into that promised
land of adolescence--the college campus. This time in your life is
strategic. It’ll either make you or break you. You’ll progress
or digress.
Just off
Emory’s campus is a bar. And the story is that all freshmen who go there
to drink are Republicans. But by the time a student is a sophomore he
does his drinking there as a Democrat. By his junior year, however, he
has become a Marxist socialist. And sadly, by the time he is a senior,
he’s so confused when he goes there to drink that he no longer knows what
he believes. It takes him until he is thirty-something to get his
bearings in life again.
Life for an
unprepared college student is like Tippy the dog. A thousand voices call
your name! And one can whirl about in a haze of drugs, alcohol, sex, and
laziness that leads nowhere fast.
But it
doesn’t have to be that way for you. Not, “Goodbye, God, I’m going to
Carolina!” or Georgia or wherever. But, “Hello, Lord. Together let’s
go to college and let me grow in you to become all you want me to be.”
Shakespeare’s
Polonius said, “To thine own self be true.…” I say, “To Jesus Christ be
true, and it must follow as the day the night that thou canst not then be
false to any man. Farewell, my son. God’s blessings go with thee.”
Suggested Prayer
Lord, let me
cross over this day with you and hand in hand conquer this challenge.
For Christ’s
sake. Amen.
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