My College Regrets
I have loved the past 3 years and I'm sure that my college years will be fond memories for the rest of my life. I don't have many regrets, but I think those I do have are shared among college students, maybe in particular college students who are chasing after God. I'm so grateful for the path God has brought me through and obviously these events happened for a reason- to ultimately glorify God. You won't be able to have a perfect college experience just by reading this post. But maybe, you can learn a little faster than I did.
Purpose
Coming into college, my purpose was to get a degree. My goal was to graduate with a 4.0 (lol). And while those aren't inherently bad, I would ask you to really consider what you want to live for. For the first two and a half years of college, I was living for my future career. It wasn't until junior year that I realized I was living for myself. I learned SO MUCH about God and deepened my relationship with Christ in college and finally came to the understanding that I needed to live ON MISSION FOR JESUS every single day of my life. So my fundamental purpose here changed from earning a degree to living for God, planting Gospel seeds and seeking to make disciples who make disciples on campus and for the rest of our lives.
Involvement
Everything else falls under this. Because I wasn't sold on the fundamental basics of the Great Commission, I didn't get involved strategically. I signed up for every extracurricular that caught my eye and even some that didn't but I'd heard would be good for pre-meds. I ran for officer positions in a few of them. All of that meant that I was too busy and scatterbrained to fulfill God's call to make disciples.
Relationships
I made some incredible friendships. Many of them have inspired and encouraged me to grow deeper in my faith. But I didn't invest well in my non-Christian relationships. When I finally understood the magnitude and gravity of the Great Commission, I had few friends who knew I deeply cared about them and would be open to the Gospel.
Strategy
Where do I live? Who do I hang out with? What do I involve myself in? How do I spend my free time? All of these questions are so much easier to answer if you desire to live on mission in line with God's purposes. Instead of weighing the pros and cons of community bathroom vs. an apartment farther from campus, maybe consider something like the following: living in a dorm will allow you to have much more interaction and influence with underclassmen, whereas living in an apartment will allow you to open your place up in hospitality with fewer restrictions.
My roommate and I definitely weren't living with such intention when we chose our on-campus apartment, but we believe God has granted us an enormous opportunity this year. We have started getting to know our neighbors in our stairwell and fostering relationships that will hopefully, according to God’s will, lead to Gospel conversations!
Are you living all-in for making Christ known on your campus? If not, are you seeking to get there? I don’t write this to encourage you to neglect your studies; God has granted us all wonderful talents that we should steward well and these academic, professional, and personal opportunities - present and future - are all opportunities to develop relationships and share the good news. But are your priorities temporal or eternal? Are you waiting until “someday” to start growing and sharing your faith or are you taking advantage of the opportunities you have today?
Here's a great book that is super practical and teaches you how to really live on mission in college. I wish I would've read it before I entered college! (but then again, I probably wasn't ready for it. We <3 God's timing)
Thank you for reading today, and come back next week as we begin our new series on Worldview!