You have been waiting for this moment since before you can even remember! Move-in day for your first year of college! Pretty soon, this will be a reality, but I want to give a little bit of advice before that day arrives. The first thing you should do is unpack and organize your room. No one likes a slob, you only get one first impression with your roommate, and your parents are leaving in a couple hours so utilize the help.
THE SECOND THING YOU SHOULD DO
They’re gone! What now? I would highly encourage you to resist the urge to succumb to F.O.M.O. for a few minutes. All the new students who are also looking to create new friendships will be there 5 minutes from now. The second thing you should do, right after you get your room set up, is decide which Bible-Believing, Gospel preaching church you will attend on Sunday. If that seems pretty anti-climactic to you, then you are a lot like me when I was dropped off during move-in day for my Freshman year. Why is it so pertinent that it is the second thing I do?
To answer this question, we need to answer couple other. Why are you here? Why did you enroll in college? To what end are you striving? I think if we were to boil down the typical answer, it would probably be something akin to “I want true life” or “I want true satisfaction.” As I have talked to hundreds of students over the last 15 years, and asked them what they are aiming for, this is what I hear, AND IT’S RIGHT. You should aim at experiencing true life and satisfaction. This is right and I believe it is innate to the human by God’s design.
I’VE BEEN AIMING TO GET HERE MY WHOLE LIFE!
WHY AM I STILL DISSATISIFIED?
-Every Upperclassman… Ever
If we cross-examine our using our own social media accounts, texting record and other ways we project ourselves in public, statistically they are two different people. Our social media accounts can typically give the image that we have “arrived”, we are satisfied and experiencing true life, but what does the deepest recesses of our soul say? If this hits home, might I suggest again that you prioritize finding a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching, Gospel-preaching church?
LET ME EXPLAIN
This won’t automatically equate to you experiencing true life and satisfaction, but it will aim you in the right direction. Like if I told you to go catch a fish, a helpful place to head is a river. The reality is that the Bible claims to be the keeper of true life. The reason I want to direct you to a good church is because statistically, even if printed in English, the Bible reads like a foreign language to you. A good church, with men and women that Love God and His Word, are praying for young people like you to walk in their doors so they can shed light on God’s Word toward you.
Look at what the Bible teaches
Psalm 19:7-9
The instruction of the Lord is perfect,
renewing one’s life;
the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy,
making the inexperienced wise.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
making the heart glad;
the command of the Lord is radiant,
making the eyes light up.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the Lord are reliable
and altogether righteous.
If you aren’t floored at the claim, then you aren’t paying attention! Instruction, testimony, precepts, commands, fear of the Lord, ordinances are all synonyms of the Word of God. The Psalmist here, is claiming that God’s Word is perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, and reliable. Those are pretty steep claims, but even more wild are the results of believing and walking in alignment with God’s word. God’s Word will renew one’s life, make the inexperienced wise, make the heart glad, and make the eyes light up! What does this mean? Aren’t these all euphemisms for “true life” or “true satisfaction”? Aren’t all these results wrapped up in the answer to one of the first questions I asked? It seems that the Bible is claiming that if a man or woman, walks with God according to His Word
Not only that but look at the next couple claims the Bible makes about God’s Word!
Psalm 19:10-11
They are more desirable than gold—
than an abundance of pure gold;
and sweeter than honey
dripping from a honeycomb.
In addition, your servant is warned by them,
and in keeping them there is an abundant reward.
God’s Word is more desirable than an abundance of pure gold?! Gold symbolizes wealth and power. Who do you think of when you imagine an abundance of pure gold? The most wealthy and powerful. What this means is that if you were to wake up every day with a choice to either roll out of bed one way and receive 1,000 pounds of pure gold or roll out the other way and open the word of God, God says to choose the word of God. Humans tend to pursue wealth and power in their pursuit of true life and satisfaction. God’s Word implies that the worth of knowing and walking in God’s word is far more valuable than wealth and power (the very thing that motivates so many decisions we make as we seek true life, especially the decision to go to college).
God’s Word suggests that it is sweeter than honey. This is the sweetest thing that the psalmist could thing of. When the Bible poetically hints at sweetness and pleasure, it references honey. God has designed us to pursue pleasure. This is a good thing!
Psalm 16:11
“You reveal the path of life to me;
in your presence is abundant joy;
at your right hand are eternal pleasures.
Like a blind man playing a game darts for the first time is the person in pursuit of the pleasure of true life and satisfaction, aiming in the right direction, but never hitting the target. The Bible illuminates the target and shows us where to aim.
If this is true, and the Bible illuminates that path to true life and satisfaction, then the second thing you should do when you arrive at college is determine where you are going to church that Sunday. Like the fisherman with a line in the river water, in pursuit of the true joy and satisfaction of a nice catch, is the one attending corporate worship and listening the to Word of God preached!