Every coin flip is absolutely decisive: heads or tail; no in-betweens. It may not seem so at this moment in your college career, but each decision you make can be decisive. At least, each decision excludes alternative possibilities. Sure, deciding between a banana split and a milk shake is not a big deal. But consider bigger decisions. You chose this college, not another one. That means that you will meet Bob and Ray, not Frank and Guido; you will date Peter or Mary, not Junior or Sara. It may mean that you will marry Billy or Martha, not Tom or Sissie.
And there are a lot of possibilities for a major. Of course, you may have decided on that already: science, taking you into medicine; accounting,taking you into business; English, taking you into teaching. Even within the major, there are choices: biology from Professor Smith or Professor Jones? Introduction to education from Mr. Wills or Ms. Peterson? Sociology from Dr. Green or Dr. White?
These can seem like easy choices but can have unforeseen but enormously decisive consequences. And we make a lot of these life-determining decisions on pretty flimsy (irrational, silly) grounds. I chose one school instead of another because of what I was told about taking music lessons. Then I never took music lessons, but I did wind up meeting the girl I would marry.
Sometimes it is not so much a matter of the choice you make but of making the best of those choices. Sometimes it is absolutely crucial which choice you make—God is the best choice then.
Prayer: I may not always make right choices but I thank you for choosing me. Amen.
21 – What, Me Worry?
Matthew 6:25–34 — (25) Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (26) Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (27) And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? (28) And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, (29) yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. (30) But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? (31) Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ (32) For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. (33) But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (34) So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
It must have been easy for Jesus to go around telling people to “not worry about tomorrow.” He didn’t have bills, assignments, a job, a car, climate change, and a dozen other crises like you do. It is hard to keep a focus on God or any other single thing and not to worry about what might or might not happen.
In college the syllabus lets you know what’s coming (papers, tests, etc.). But anxiety is about all that other stuff that might or might not happen. Talk about opening yourself up to problems, this is it. Søren Kierkegaard, the nineteenth-century Danish Christian existentialist, wrote a book titled Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing. It was about our all-out commitment to find in God the assurance impossible to find elsewhere. We Americans are all over the map looking for meaning—and wind up with a lot of anxiety and worry.
Jesus’ invitation not to worry reminds you that you can’t do much about most stuff, and that he will care for you in whatever does happen.
Prayer: Thank you for caring about what I can’t foresee or control. Amen.
22 – Golden Rule
Matthew 7:1–12 — (1) “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. (2) For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. (3) Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? (4) Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? (5) You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. (6) Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you. (7) Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. (8) For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (9) Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? (10) Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? (11) If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (12) In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
You are the decider of ethical behavior. The rules for what you do are up to you. You create them on the basis of how you would like to be treated by others. Would you like them to be polite? Would you like them to help you when you feel sad, depressed, in need? The answers constitute an ethical picture that is rich in possibilities for what others might do for you, but demanding in what you are called upon to do for others, and unimaginably rewarding in what others will experience as a result of your behavior.
But what if others don’t respond well to you? What if, instead of doing to you as you would like them to, they are hurtful? Sorry, Jesus didn’t say anything about that. In fact, of course, he knew that people wouldn’t necessarily treat you well. He was teaching you how to act. He wasn’t teaching others how to act; nor are you to tell others what to do. You are here to figure out what you are supposed to do. So, use your imagination. Think of what would you like others to do and do it!
Prayer: Keep me mindful of others. Amen.
23 – No Pain, No Gain
Matthew 7:13–14 — (13) Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. (14) For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
“The gate is narrow and the road is hard.” That’s a good athletic metaphor. To squeeze through a narrow gate you must be lithe, slim. To make it on a hard way you need stamina, strength, energy, resilience, and focus. No place here for the weak, the wimpy, the faint of heart, or the out of shape. It is also a good metaphor for college success. Ultimately, success (A’s, a degree, honors) depends on performance, which in turn depends on disciplined commitment. We Americans have it easier than everyone else precisely because our lives have more support—electricity, calories, housing, medical care—than anyone else enjoys. We are on Easy Street, the Yellow Brick Road, on our way to “happily ever after.”
We are a secular culture in many ways. Most of us say we believe in God and if you have gone to many funerals, the dearly departed are generally guaranteed an honored position near God in heaven because of . . . well, because of whatever the presiding minister can pull out of the collection of anecdotes supplied by loved ones to show that the deceased had been a “good” person. We are Christians whether we like it or not. We are Christians no matter who we are. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famed pastor and theologian who was imprisoned and hanged by the Nazis in the closing days of WWII called this “cheap grace”—everybody is okay.
Is there anything wrong with this picture? Remember Groucho Marx’s quip that he would not want to be a member of a group that had standards low enough to let him in? When we consider the time—sometimes even years!—and the demands to know about the faith required for church membership of converts in the days when Christianity was still illegal under the Roman Empire, we ought to be ashamed of how easy we have it.