Before we get started here with part two of five under what I’m calling The 5 Things a Christian College Student Should Never Do, don’t misunderstand me after simply reading the topic of this specific blogpost. Here it is:
2. Spend All of Your Free Time With Christians
Let me be clear—I’m not knocking Christians. I love Christians. I do. Christians have been responsible for nearly all of the wonderful things in my life, including my personal growth/development, my job, my best friends, and the community in which I serve through my church. Heck, I even married a Christian…that’s how much I like them. But loving Christians isn’t really what I’m talking about here.
What I am talking about is the common problem Christians in college often have of spending all of their time with other believers and neglecting any sort of relationship with anyone who believes differently than they do. It can happen so easily if we’re not careful.
After I became a Christian in January of my freshman year at Virginia Tech, I longed to spend all of my time with others I considered to be my true brothers and sisters…namely, other believers in Christ. Time passed, and at the end of my sophomore year, I came to the sad realization that I had drifted away from nearly all of the non-Christian friends in my life. I took inventory of my relationships and found that literally everyone close to me was a believer. Something felt off about that, so after consulting a few trusted mentors and reading through the New Testament, I learned that we as followers of Jesus were never meant to spend every waking moment with only Christians.
The example and instruction of Jesus Himself paints a pretty clear picture of how to engage with others. Yes, Jesus spent a lot of time with His disciples. These were the men he was closest with because they “did life together” on a day-to-day basis. But in light of that, Jesus and His disciples were constantly moving into the lives of people who weren’t believers. They frequently rubbed shoulders with people like the Samaritan woman, the hungry 5,000, the Romans, the blind, the beggars, the tax collectors, and the prostitutes.
Jesus had the mindset of “going to them” so much that it ticked off the religious leaders and caused them to question what kind of a religious man He was who spent time with the “lowest of society.” (Matthew 9:10-13) Jesus met with them and loved others on their turf. He knew that in order to have the greatest impact in the lives of those who didn’t know about Him, He’d need to be where they lived.
This is significant for many reasons, but let me point out just two. First, college students who follow Christ are often ambivalent about interacting with non-believers in the context of an environment where they feel uncomfortable. For example, as a Christian, it’s difficult to go out to a bar and be with people you are befriending if you’re not there to party. Someone might see you and think you’re there getting wasted just like most everyone else, or someone might question why you’re there and not drinking at all, which can lead to more potentially awkward explanations. Most Christians don’t enjoy intentional awkwardness, and therefore will avoid those situations like the plague, leading to an overall avoidance of environments where normal non-believing college students interact with one another.
However, the example of Christ’s ministry looked like a constant hangout with people who didn’t know or honor God. Jesus was in there, roughing it with average people, shining as a light in the darkness.
Second, Christ set the example of going to them. Our temptation as Christians is to remain where we’re safe, and invite others to come to us to hear about the gospel. We’d much rather say, “Hey, you should come out to our large group meeting this Wednesday,” or “Do you want to come to church with me this Sunday?” or “I think you’d really enjoy the Bible study I go to on Monday nights,” than step into the uneasy ground of a frat party, the bar atmosphere, or a club.
Now, I’m not saying that inviting people out to Christian functions is bad (it’s awesome if you’re doing that!), but if that’s the ONLY thing you’re doing to interact with those who don’t believe as you do, you’re playing it safe. Jesus set the continual example of going to people where they were, and we should follow His lead because some of those regular bar-patrons are never going to darken the doorway of your Christian meeting, Bible study, or church service.
We were not meant to sit and soak in the Christian subculture, living a life of contentment and playing it safe. Stepping out of the environment where we are most comfortable isn’t easy, but guess what? Jesus promised an abundant life, not an easy one. (See John 10:10) I came to this important revelation (as I mentioned earlier) at the end of my sophomore year of college. Wondering how to remedy the fact that I had planted myself firmly in the middle of the Christian subculture at my school, I decided to get a job on campus that would give me face-to-face interaction with people who didn’t believe as I did. It would also provide me with the ministry to reach out to others and not be so firmly entrenched in my Christian bubble.
I got a job at Chick-Fil-A (of course), and began to think more intentionally about how I could show my coworkers what it meant to follow Jesus. In turn, that presented me with the opportunity to be a designated driver for a few of their parties (which, admittedly, were a lot of fun). I went to a few of their sporting events (which were kind of boring). And I even attended a fashion show one of my coworkers organized as a class assignment (I refuse to comment about my feelings on that at this time).
I developed relationships with my coworkers and, honestly, going to work for two days a week became one my favorite parts of college. When we’d talk at work, people would remember me driving them around on Saturday night (which was a bit of a surprise, knowing how much alcohol they had consumed). They would thank me for coming to their games and cheering them on. They loved that I was a normal person who cared about them, but most importantly, they knew where I stood when it came to my faith.
I shared the gospel with quite a few of my fellow Chick-Fil-A employees in my time working there. None of them ever expressed any real interest in Christ or desire for a personal relationship with Him. But I know that regardless of what happened (or didn’t happen) back when we were students, they were able to see a Christian who cared about them, loved them, and stood up for his beliefs when tested. I believe God used me to lay the groundwork in some of their lives for what He would do at a later time. In other words, I was able to plant and water some spiritual seeds.
I didn’t see any fruit, but I’m thankful I was there.
It’s important to understand that as a follower of Jesus, you are in a decisive position to be an effective representation of Christ and rescuer for Christ because of your strategic placement. Despite your life stage, you are probably next to non-believers every day. You are literally surrounded by people without even stepping one foot into unfamiliar territory.
School, home, family, friends, coworkers, neighbors—God calls us to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8) wherever we go and to whomever we connect with on a regular basis. Understanding how much he loves us, what He has done for us, and how he has changed us (2 Corinthians 5:17) is an important part of being His witnesses because we naturally reflect those gospel truths to the people around us. They begin to see us in Christ as we unapologetically live our lives with Christ.
Make no mistake—people need to hear about Jesus. They will die without Him, and God has called us to be His primary rescuers. Never has a drowning man been rescued by a lifeguard who just sat on the beach or in the lifeguard stand. We need to tell others about Him…it’s truly a matter of life or death.
This is a part of who you are. As an ambassador for Jesus, it’s essential we recognize His calling to go to people on their turf is the fundamental building block of our Christian identity. If we’re only hanging out with Christians, we’re missing out on that call.
You can find the other parts of The 5 Things a Christian College Student Should Never Do here:
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.