Multiple questions with this one. It has me thinking...

[Godislove94]

I'm a college aged Christian who is active in church and goes to a Bible study group on Wednesday nights from 8-10p.m. I'm also in a major that requires a lot of extracurricular commitments. Tonight was a night that I had an extracurricular commitment, but instead of going to study afterward, I chose to get in a little study time afterward because I hadn't been doing as much as I needed to this week and didn't really want to have to put it off another day. When my friend asked me why I wasn't at study, I told her that I needed to catch up on homework and was immediately met with a lecture on prioritizing and putting God above all else. It upset me a bit that she did this and I felt judged because I do try to make God first in my life (in fact, right now I need to do some catching up because I've been so involved with church and church related things that I've been neglecting my schoolwork and am not doing well in two of my classes). I try not to miss church or Bible study but tonight I just felt like I needed to get caught up. I do feel guilty for missing and know I should have gone and have asked for forgiveness from God.

However, it does bring up a few questions. Was I really in the wrong for not going to study and am I upset because my friend was right and my pride is getting in the way? Or was I justified in being upset that my friend had judged me? Also, what is the ideal balance between schoolwork and ministry for a Christian college student? I know to do all things to the glory of God including assignments and studying and that your academic life can be part of your ministry, but there are times I feel guilty for stuff like this.

Thoughts?

 

[Soyeong]

I'm a college aged Christian who is active in church and goes to a Bible study group on Wednesday nights from 8-10p.m. I'm also in a major that requires a lot of extracurricular commitments. Tonight was a night that I had an extracurricular commitment, but instead of going to study afterward, I chose to get in a little study time afterward because I hadn't been doing as much as I needed to this week and didn't really want to have to put it off another day. When my friend asked me why I wasn't at study, I told her that I needed to catch up on homework and was immediately met with a lecture on prioritizing and putting God above all else. It upset me a bit that she did this and I felt judged because I do try to make God first in my life (in fact, right now I need to do some catching up because I've been so involved with church and church related things that I've been neglecting my schoolwork and am not doing well in two of my classes). I try not to miss church or Bible study but tonight I just felt like I needed to get caught up. I do feel guilty for missing and know I should have gone and have asked for forgiveness from God.

However, it does bring up a few questions. Was I really in the wrong for not going to study and am I upset because my friend was right and my pride is getting in the way? Or was I justified in being upset that my friend had judged me? Also, what is the ideal balance between schoolwork and ministry for a Christian college student? I know to do all things to the glory of God including assignments and studying and that your academic life can be part of your ministry, but there are times I feel guilty for stuff like this.

Thoughts?

Hello,

Christians are told to judge each other righteously, so there is nothing wrong in itself with being judged. It stead of getting upset, the proper reaction is to pause to consider whether there is any merit in what they said, as you now appear to be doing. I think until shown otherwise, assume that your friend had your best intentions and they said something to you because they saw in their opinion that you were doing something wrong and they wanted to help you improve. Thank them for their concern and then discuss with them why you agree or disagree with their advice. Even if you think that they were wrong, I see no good reason to get upset at a friend over this. In my opinion, while it is good to attend Bible studies when you can, you are attending college in order to learn, not to attend Bible studies. I have a friend who used to help lead a Bible study, but who now only occasionally attends because he took a heavy course load. Making the best use your tuition can be a way of honoring God.

 

[miamited]

Hi GIL,

You asked a few questions about a specific situation:

However, it does bring up a few questions. Was I really in the wrong for not going to study and am I upset because my friend was right and my pride is getting in the way? Or was I justified in being upset that my friend had judged me? Also, what is the ideal balance between schoolwork and ministry for a Christian college student? I know to do all things to the glory of God including assignments and studying and that your academic life can be part of your ministry, but there are times I feel guilty for stuff like this.

My answer, there may be some pride involved so far as your feeling judged and I'm confident that we all suffer from such feelings from time to time. As far as someone telling you or making you feel bad about missing a night of a group bible study, I'd just let it go. There is certainly no spiritual requirement that such an idea is approved. I'd go with your friend was just trying to impress upon you the idea of sticking with the study and perhaps they miss your involvement. I'd have probably explained that I do hold the group study as important, but no, always feeling compelled to attend over all other things is not the place of importance that you give it. That you do appreciate their concern, but not so much the haranguing.

Hopefully after telling them this, you'll both be able to move on.

As to your question about the priority of schoolwork over the things of God, my son just graduated from college. His major was computer engineering and I can attest that it takes a lot of time to study and graduate with some reasonable degree of competence in the things that one learns in such a major. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it! However, his understanding of the things of God was fairly complete before he ever started college and none of that has changed because he spent a season doing more study of school curriculum than of God's word. There are balances that we have to maintain in life. For me, top on the list is knowing and loving God. Feeling obligated to attend some study group doesn't even make the list. It's good to study in a group, but it's better to prayerfully study by oneself.

Study groups, and I have attended a few, often get waylaid by side issues. Daniel seems to have done all of his study alone in the privacy of his home and he seemed to have understood the things of God better than most. It allows you to stop and pray and ask for wisdom at any point as you study rather than being controlled by the time constraints and questions of others. It gives you ample time to reflect and consider things as you read. If you come to a point where you are not understanding, then you can get up from your chair and grab a commentary, hopefully a few, to see what others have understood about the particular and specific issue.

So, my understanding is that study groups are good overall, but private study is best. Feeling that compulsive and regular attendance is required when engaged in a study group, while it is good that you can be there when you can, shouldn't be cause for guilt.

God bless you and I commend you that you desire to know God as you learn a trade.
In Christ, Ted