91福利社

There is something about the beginning of a school year that makes everything feel new again. New classes, new schedules, new people, new routines, and, for a lot of us, a new opportunity to become a little more intentional about who we want to be. I know for me, the beginning of a semester can come with a lot of motivation. I want to be more disciplined. I want to manage my time better. I want to spend more time with Jesus in the Word. I want to do well in my classes and be a good friend and make the most of the season the Lord has gifted me. But somewhere in the middle of all of that, I think there is a question that is much more important than whether we have a productive semester or not: What does it actually look like for my life to fully belong to Jesus?

At a Christian university, that question can be easy to overlook because Christianity is already so woven into our surroundings. We go to chapel. We worship together. We go to Bible studies. We pray in classes. We have Christian friends and professors. There is Scripture on the walls and faith is often the center of many class discussions. And those things are beautiful gifts. But being surrounded by reminders of Jesus is not the same as surrendering our lives to Him. We can become so accustomed to the language and rhythms of Christianity that we stop asking whether our hearts are actually being changed by Christ. We can know how to look like a Christian in a Christian environment while still keeping certain parts of our lives for ourselves. I don’t say that as someone standing outside of that struggle. I think there are parts of all of our lives where we are tempted to give Jesus everything except the one thing we really want to hold onto.

That is why I keep coming back to the idea of being set apart. Scripture does not call us to be set apart because we are better than the people around us. It calls us to be set apart because we belong to someone different. Peter writes, 鈥淎s obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct鈥� (1 Peter 1:14-15). I think the words 鈥渁ll your conduct鈥� are easy to read over. Not just our church life. Not just our public life. Not just the parts of us that are easy to surrender. All of it. Our academics, friendships, relationships, schedules, conversations, habits, entertainment, thoughts, ambitions and the things we do when nobody else is around. If Jesus is really Lord, there isn’t a part of our lives where He gets to be invited in only when it is convenient.

For us as college students, I think that becomes incredibly practical. Being set apart might look like sitting in the library and choosing integrity when copying someone’s work would be easier. It might look like doing the assignment well even when your professor will never know how much effort you put into it. It might look like being honest when a lie would protect your image or choosing not to participate in a conversation that tears someone else down. It might mean saying no to something everyone else seems comfortable saying yes to, even when you know you might be misunderstood for it. Colossians 3:23 tells us, 鈥淲hatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people.鈥� That means our faith does not disappear when we walk into a classroom. Even the ordinary things can become worship when we remember who we are ultimately doing them for.

And then there are the parts of our lives that are much harder to talk about because they are private. I think this is where being set apart becomes less about what we look like and more about who we actually are. It is possible to attend chapel on Friday morning and still live completely different Friday night. It is possible to sing worship songs with our friends and then spend the rest of the week entertaining thoughts, habits or relationships that we know are pulling us away from obedience to God. It is possible to know Scripture well and still avoid the parts of it that ask something of us. That is the difference between having knowledge and being wise. None of this is said to shame us. In fact, I think the gospel gives us the freedom to be honest about these things because Jesus already knows them. Psalm 139 says, 鈥淪earch me, God, and know my heart.鈥� What if we actually prayed that at the beginning of this school year? Not just, 鈥淕od, bless my semester,鈥� but, 鈥淕od, show me the places in my life where I have stopped letting You be Lord.鈥�

I think relationships are another place where this becomes real. College is such a formative season for friendships and dating relationships, and the people closest to us have a tremendous influence on who we are becoming. Being set apart does not mean expecting everyone around us to be perfect or cutting ourselves off from people who believe differently than we do. Jesus never called us to live without compassion. But it does mean being honest about what our relationships are producing in us. Are the people closest to me encouraging me toward Christ, or am I consistently becoming someone I don’t recognize because I am trying to fit into a relationship? Am I willing to have boundaries because I value obedience more than temporary comfort? Am I loving people well, or am I using them to meet needs that only God can meet? Sometimes following Jesus means making a difficult choice because we understand that love is not always giving someone whatever they want. Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is choose what is true, even when truth is uncomfortable.

The same is true of our time. I know how easy it is to look at a calendar and wonder how everything is supposed to fit. We fill our schedules with classes, work, friends, organizations, practices, events and responsibilities, and then wonder why we feel spiritually exhausted. Sometimes we tell ourselves that we are too busy for God when, really, our schedule is revealing what we have decided is most important. That does not mean every free moment has to become a Bible study, and it certainly does not mean we need to feel guilty for resting or enjoying our lives. But it does mean we should be willing to ask whether we are actually making room for the One we say is most important. Jesus does not want whatever is left after we have given our best energy to everything else. He wants our hearts, and our calendars often reveal more about our hearts than we realize.

I also think being set apart requires us to be careful about how we look at other Christians. At a Christian university, we are going to encounter people who profess to follow Jesus but don’t always live consistently with what they profess. We will see hypocrisy. We will see people make choices that contradict their faith. And, if we are honest, other people will probably see those things in us sometimes too. That does not mean truth no longer matters. It means we need to remember the difference between conviction and condemnation. We are called to encourage one another toward holiness, but we are not called to act as though we have somehow graduated from needing grace. Jesus was incredibly gracious toward sinners while never pretending that sin did not matter. We should be the same. We can hold tightly to truth while holding out grace, because we know that the same gospel that calls us to holiness is the gospel that meets us when we fall short.

Maybe that is what makes this idea of being set apart so different from simply trying to 鈥渂e a good Christian.鈥� It is not about creating a perfect version of ourselves that looks impressive to everyone else. It is about slowly becoming more like Jesus because we have surrendered our lives to Him. And that process is often much quieter than we expect. It is the active decision to pray when we would rather scroll. It is confessing when we would rather hide. It is apologizing when our pride wants to be right. It is walking away from something we know is not good for us. It is choosing integrity when nobody would catch us. It is opening our Bible when we don’t feel like it in the moment. It is forgiving someone when we still feel hurt. It is choosing obedience before we understand exactly what God is doing. These choices may not look significant from the outside, but I think this is where a surrendered life is actually built.

Romans 12:1 says, 鈥淭herefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.鈥� I love that Paul connects surrender to the mercy of God. We are not pursuing holiness because we are trying to earn God’s love. We pursue holiness because we have already received it. We don’t obey so that Jesus will love us more. We obey because Jesus has already loved us enough to give Himself for us. That changes everything. Holiness is not punishment. It is an invitation to become the person God created us to be.

So, as we begin this school year, maybe the question isn’t simply, 鈥淲hat do I want this semester to look like?鈥� Maybe it is, 鈥淲hat would change if I really believed Jesus was Lord of every part of my life?鈥� What would change in my academics? In my friendships? In my dating relationships? In the way I spend my time? In the things I do when nobody is watching? In the things I am afraid to surrender? In the places where I have become comfortable with something God may be asking me to leave behind?鈥�

I don’t think any of us will answer those questions perfectly. I know I won’t. But maybe that is the point. Being set apart is not about being perfect. It is about being willing to let Jesus continually search us, correct us, forgive us and change us. We don’t need to prove that we are better Christians than the people around us. We don’t need to look like we have everything together. We simply need to belong to Jesus.

So this year, in a place where it can sometimes feel like everyone already knows about Jesus, let’s actually know Him. Let’s not settle for only looking Christian when we are surrounded by Christianity. Let’s let our faith move beyond chapel and into the ordinary, hidden, inconvenient parts of our lives. Let’s pursue holiness without losing humility. Let’s give grace without compromising truth. Let’s choose obedience when it costs us something. And let’s remember that the goal is not simply to be different from the people around us. The goal is to become more like Christ. And maybe that is what it really means to live set apart. Even here.