As college students in our society, we have been taught that we will eat ramen noodles every night and be broker than any other time in our life. Although this is very true for some people, I think that a lot of us have started to take advantage of this assumption that others have. In fact, I would even venture to say that many of us wouldn’t qualify as broke if we were honest with ourselves. So why do we claim that we can’t afford to buy groceries even though we go out to dinner every weekend and manage to buy ourselves a new wardrobe? In my opinion, it’s because “being broke” is easier and more comfortable.
Being broke is relatable and expected. It is easier to “have no money” than to give money to the homeless man on the street. It is easier to “be broke” than to put money in the offering plate on Sunday. It is easier to “hardly get by” than to give extravagantly in the name of Christ.
Over Christmas break, I went to Passion in Atlanta. At this gathering of over 55,000 college students in the Georgia Dome, we were challenged to sponsor the remaining children in the countries of Tanzania, El Salvador, and Rwanda. At $38/month, sponsoring that many children seemed impossible. But on the last day of the conference, when all the sponsorships were totaled, we not only sponsored the three countries we were challenged with, but also all of Indonesia and half of Bolivia. Think about it. Thousands of “broke college students” were able to sacrifice hundreds of dollars a year in order to change the life of one child. Collectively, we gave hope to 7,000 children around the world. This leads me to the assumption that most of us have more money than we let on. But, admitting that we have money means we now have to take responsibility. We have to be good stewards of the money that God has given us and start making a difference. No one expects a student without money for gas to put anything in the offering plate. For that matter, no one expects much more from college students than drunkenness and expired milk in the fridge. So, start defying expectations. Change the stereotype from broke college student to generous college student.
If Passion taught me one thing it was that you are never too young to make a difference. I recognize that some college students actually are broke because they are working their hardest to put themselves through college and provide for themselves. But, that doesn’t mean that they can’t give. For those who have the resources, don’t be afraid to give them to God. For those who don’t, give up your time and your plans and let God use them for His glory. But either way, trust that God will use your resources and continue to provide for you. It's scary to give away money that you worked so hard to earn, and it's even scarier to not know how you'll come up with next month's payment, but God works in mysterious ways. He has our situation under His control and expects us to trust him day by day.
Not one of us can do everything, but all of us can do something. So start doing something today and together we can defy society’s expectations for our generation.
