A new school year is a new beginning. Whatever you were last year, can now be changed. You can dress different. You can have new friends. You can be in new clubs, and try out for new sports. If you weren't popular last year, you can try to be popular this year. You can get better grades. You can do your homework on time. You can study for tests in plenty of time instead of cramming at the last minute.
If you're going back to school, you probably have goals...whether you've recognized them as goals or not, you have them. It may be something I mentioned above, or it may be different.
If you consider yourself a follower of Christ, allow me to ask you a question. Have you considered what your spiritual goals are for this year? After all, our whole lives are about one thing: bringing glory to God. Somehow, education seems to get in the way of that. We start believing society...that education is the most important thing in our lives. If we don't go to a good college and get a degree in something extraordinary, we are worth nothing. What makes me so very sad is that many Christian parents have even bought into this. Their goal is to bring glory to God, but their goals for their kids? Well, their kids need to get straight A's, number one priority! Then, excel at some extracurricular activity, art, sports, whatever...then somewhere down the list is God, youth group, church, etc.
How do we fool ourselves in this way? We believe God is central to everything else except this thing! We think society has everything wrong except this.
I've worked with students for 9 years now, and it drives me crazy (crazy, I tell you!) that students bog themselves down with a million and one AP classes, athletics, clubs, etc. etc., to the detriment of their relationship with Christ.
If a student doesn't care about grades, then it's friends. Or popularity. Or whatever...fill in the blank.
Am I saying getting good grades, AP classes, athletics, friends, are bad things? Absolutely not, and I believe we honor God by being diligent in our lives. But I also believe that we miss the mark more often than not.
So, if we truly believe our number one goal in life is to bring honor and glory to our Creator and Maker, how do school and academics fit into that? Simply this: you are at your school for one purpose: to bring honor and glory to God. If you try out for a sport, it is for one reason: to bring honor and glory to God. So before you try out, evaluate your purpose. Am I trying out to be more popular? Am I trying out because I think it will make me rich when I get older? Or am I trying out because I have faith that somehow, I will bring glory to God and honor Him with all I do while playing this sport? Maybe you'll meet someone that you are supposed to share God's love with. I don't know why God has you where He does, but I know it's for His glory.
Students, remember your purpose. What are YOUR spiritual goals this year?
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