“I don’t need God right now - I have my whole life to be a Christian. I just want to have fun right now.”
WHAT?!?!!
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t heard this excuse before…. by someone in a Christian school. Yikes.
I remember my heart physically aching and my blood beginning to boil when I heard it. How.. What.. Huh?! I know I’m far from being this “perfect” Christian. I know that I fall short on a daily basis. But I also know that this is NOT the way to live out our lives.
I’m one of what feels like few college students who doesn’t like to party. Nope. Not my scene. I don’t want the alcohol. I don’t want the drugs. I don’t want to not remember what happened the night before, and no - I don’t want to sleep around. I wasn’t like that in high school and I’m not going to be like that in college.
I think a common misconception that Christians so often have is that when they look at God, they see this big, angry man who wants nothing but to restrict us from “having fun.” When I think about the people I know who think that way, I just don’t understand it. I don’t know if they just think that the only way they can “have fun” is getting black-out drunk and smoking weed, but it honestly just doesn’t make any sense.
They have this idea that they can do whatever they want in their late teens to early twenties and then come crawling back to God once they’re ready to settle down and everything will be just fine. While yes, God will forgive them when they do come back to Him, why would they want to live this way? Why would they want to add more to the list of sins they already have on their record?
Thinking that God doesn’t want us to enjoy this earth is absolutely bonkers!! Why would He have placed us here if He didn’t want us to have fun? One of my favorite passages from the Bible reads:
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
in throwing roadblocks in the way:
the Master does not approve of such things.
He doesn’t approve of such things. He doesn’t want to make life hard. He doesn’t want us to sit here and be miserable for the entire span of life we have here on earth. God isn’t just this guy who wants to make all of these rules for us to follow so that we don’t have fun. No, He sets these rules so that we can live the life He imagined for us - the one that is better than anything we could ever hope for. He wants us to enjoy this earth. But there are ways we can enjoy it without going against His commandments. There’s more to life than college parties. There’s more to life then rushing for a sorority. There is so much more.
We’re naive if we think that God is just someone we can come to when we’re done doing what we want to do. He isn’t just a back-up plan.
Personally, I’m so thankful that He guarded my heart against this odd desire to leave and come back. Sure, I stray, but I’d rather struggle with pursuing Him every day than go years without Him. I don’t just want God when I’m older - married with kids. I want God now. I want Him in every aspect of my life. I want Him to be factored into everything that I do. So that’s how I live.
What if “one day” never comes? What if your life ends today, and you never had the chance to come back to God? Is it worth it? Is all of the drugs, alcohol, and sex really worth it? Is the cheating worth it? Is that one party? Is the lying worth it? Is any of it worth it?
Of course not. We so often lack this urgency that comes with knowing God. It’s not one of those things that you can just put off. When you have this relationship with God, you just want to know more and more - to grow closer and closer. I don’t really understand the urge that people have to put off knowing God to a later date - a date that may never come. I don’t know why they would want to make their relationship with God worse rather than better.
I do understand that loving God is urgent. It’s now or never. We never know when our day will come. We can’t just sit idly by and expect for this “someday” to sneak up on us. Because someday could be today. Someday could be tomorrow. It’s better to wait with Him than to one day find that it’s too late.
Sure, you might have to give up your lifestyle if you’re going to fully love and serve God. You might not go to parties anymore. You may not curse anymore. If you are giving those things up, I can promise you that you will find abundantly more through Him. More than you could ever hope or imagine. Just don't wait.
Waiting isn’t an option for me. I just want Christ - at the center, above all. I don’t care if that makes me “weird.” I don’t care if I get criticized for it. After all, I’d rather have God look at me one day and say “Well done, My good and faithful servant,” than to have someone on this earth approve of me. That doesn’t matter. It’s irrelevant.
I’m going to live my life in a way that doesn’t make sense to many. I'm going to keep living and loving the way He has called me to. I'm going to keep pointing others to Him. I’m going to live in reckless abandonment to Him. I’d give it all up for Him - without a second thought, because He did the same for me. So call me crazy. Call me weird. It won’t make a difference. I love Him, and He loves me. That is more than enough for me.
I hope you see it the same way. I hope you see just how urgent it is to love and follow God. I hope you don’t see Him as someone who wishes for you to live a miserable life. He is more. He will always be more. He will always be a good Father - one who has dreamt of the most extravagant life for you. Why not tap into the blessings He has for you NOW rather than LATER?
You never know when your day will come.
“Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride.
Whoever hears, echo, “Come!”
Is anyone thirsty? Come!
All who will, come and drink,
Drink freely of the Water of Life!
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