Late one evening, a dear friend gave me a ride home from the computer lab. As we pulled into my driveway, he asked me the simplest of questions: "Do you believe in God?" "Umm... yea," I responded." Will you pray for ...?" he requested.
He said it in the most innocent way. I doubt that he even meant to start me On a thinking frenzy. But he did. I haven't been able to stop the recording of that question from running through my head. And the response that I keep coming back to is, why did he have to ask?
I'm a bread-in-the-bone Adventist.
I can recite countless Bible verses. E.G. White has been so indoctrinated that it almost drives me batty. The seemingly useless biblical and Adventist history knowledge that floats around in my brain never ceases to amaze me.
But my friend's comment caused me to stop dead in my tracks. I had always thought that I was a good, Christian child. I have prayed for friends to meet the God that I thought I knew. I always try to be nice to everyone, even those that really get under my skin. I thought that was all that was required. I was wrong.
I have come to the conclusion that I have lost touch with the most fundamental part of Christianity. I guess you could compare it to coordinating a football game and forgetting to buy a football. I've forgotten about God.
I couldn't tell you when it happened or even why. Perhaps it's because I do so much and stay so busy that I have a good excuse to not study the Word and pray on a regular basis. Sure, I read my homework for Studies in Daniel.
Sure, I send up the "Lord help me!" prayer before each and every test that I failed to study properly for, which amount to more than I would willingly admit to. But I don't consider this a consistent and good form of communication for some reason. I know I need to have a different plan. I need to be more in touch with God, even if it means sacrificing my busy life and so-called Christianity.
As soon as I realized this, I started looking around the campus to see how others seemed to act. I saw many people that left absolutely no doubt in my mind as to their belief in God. I also saw many who were terribly Christian, but seemed to have forgotten that all-important concept just as I had. Lest the teachers start to panic, this is not their fault. It's just something that has happened. I know that the two commandments- love for God, love for others are practiced as well as preached by many of our esteemed professors.
Some situations just are. Rather than worry about the why, I'd like to figure out how to fix it.
I’ve found that for myself, I've had to reevaluate my motives in being a good, Christian girl. Do I play this role to glorify my God or myself? Am I actually looking out for the good of others or am I just trying to look good?
The somewhat useless biblical knowledge and Adventist tidbits that float around my head should be used for what purpose?
I don't know if any of these questions would even be pertinent to the community setting of the college campus. I would like to think that they could be. I don't have all the answers to these questions even for myself, let alone for the student body as a whole, but I'd like to give a few suggestions.
Maybe we, as a student body, could try to be a tad more sincere when discussing the whole God and Christianity concept. Maybe we, as individuals, could try to reevaluate our motives for being the good people that we are.
Maybe we, as a community, can concentrate on the two fundamental commandments.
Then again, maybe it's much more simple than that. Maybe we, as sincere Christians, can just pray. Pray regularly and sincerely. I somehow think that would be enough. After all, that's the way this whole idea got started.
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