Many people think that religion is all about rules. Throughout the Bible there are rules that God sets for His people, with a popular example being the Ten Commandments. For some, there may be conflicts between the rules of religion and the freedom that college brings.
Going to college equates to a sense of freedom for many people--getting away from parents, seemingly living on your own, choosing classes you want to take for the major that you decide you want to pursue--college is absolutely filled with freedom and choice, and parents don’t really have too much of a say in it on a daily basis.
Every day in college, you are required to make choices. These choices range from what to wear to class to get the cute boy two rows behind you to notice you, all the way to things of the religious persuasion. Are you going to go to church? Are you going to get involved with a Christian group on campus? Are you going to join a Bible study?
The freedom of college doesn’t always comply with the rules of religion.
It is so easy to get caught-up in hanging out with friends, going to parties, studying for exams, writing papers, and everything else in between. Life gets busy and we don’t have time to sit down and read our Bibles or we’re too tired to get up on Sunday morning to go to church. Maybe we even get too lazy to even find a church while we’re away from home.
In college, I chose on my own volition that I wanted to continue to deepen my faith. I made the choice to seek out a church home in Chapel Hill. I made the choice to become part of an on campus Christian group. Through these decisions, I know I made amazing Christian friends while attending a non-Christian school. However, just because you’re able to make these decisions does not mean that these choices are easy to make.
I think the beautiful thing about college and God is that we have the freedom of choice.
Paul writes this in Galatians 5:13 (The Message) –
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.
God calls us to live freely and make our own choices; He wants us to use our freedom to love one another. It is important to not let your Christian faith close doors for you; rather, your faith should open doors as you meet and interact with so many different kinds of people on a daily basis in a non-religiously affiliated university.
