There was this one older brother when I first came to CCF ten years ago. He was a pre-med student, but unlike any I have ever seen before. He would take the time to bring a basket of peaches on visits to some of the first years during the first months of the year and spend time encouraging them. He only applied to medical school once, and to exactly one school, fully convicted that that he was to remain in this town (I am sure the girlfriend now wife's prescence helped, she is super cool too).
He was already in medical school when I lived with him during my fourth year. He worked hard, but never grudgingly. He even joyfully washes the whole house's dishes (all my housemates are wishing one of us would do that lol). The homeless often would drop by the house asking where he was, and when he was home he would invite them in, make them a sandwich, and speak with them as with a friend.
I never saw him turn away anyone in need, almost always at the inconvienience of himself. Despite his prestigious medical degree, and intense residency, he was a follower of Christ, first and foremost, above all else. You knew, you can see, where his treasure was.
So a prestigious, professional career can passionately glorify God. There are some who are gifted with the strength to not be consumed. It is possible. Though I cannot claim I have fully attained it, I have seen it, and certainly aspire to it.
All of this then leads me to ask, for all the get-in-or-bust post-grad applicants, where is your treasure today?
Maybe we have put our own desires and ambitions into God's mouth, thinking that we are pursuing God's will for us but really just blinding ourselves from seeing our lukewarm priorities today, having vague mental pictures of being more faithful once I get "there"; to neglect offering our lives to His kingdom today and picking it back up when we have achieved what we thought God wanted, when it was really what we (or worse, others) wanted. Ten years on in campus ministry and I am realizing that this is one of the biggest faith-destroying fallacies that students are sucked into today. We do not recgonize that the habits and priorities we live by during undergrad sets the precedent and compound well into our adult lives, positively or negatively.
Little do we realize that "there" is a bait that never arrives. Once passionate believers slowly drift off into a spiritual coma, not sensing that they have diverted their eyes off of God long ago as the thorns of life and career subtly, almost imperceivably, consume them. All the while they search for spiritual comfort by sitting in a pew for an hour or two every weekend, singing a few songs, giving a tenth, and maybe ushering once a month to pat themselves on the back. I always pray that they may return their eyes to their Father, because He still loves them, His destiny and holy calling for them still awaits. Yet the sinking feeling I get is that their gaze has been fixed elsewhere for so long that their necks have grown stiff, and the potential pain of moving, of changing the life path they worked so hard for, repulses them.
Here is a revealing parting question, when you open your agenda/calendar for the week, what is it filled with? The events you see, who are they for? Where is your treasure today?
Please talk to God (head and body) about this.
