Being a Christian Student on the Campus – normal students who enjoy the Lord

When I first hit university, my initial thought was that I also want to be like the serving ones on campus, preaching the gospel, getting into the truth and enjoy the Lord with others 24/7. That was when reality (no pun intended) hit me: How can I be a student and still enjoy the Lord? I cannot just enjoy the Lord because then I fail my exams, and I cannot just study because then I do not enjoy the Lord and I become dry. How do you balance the two?

In fact, you can’t. You combine it.

The first thing that frustrated me the most was that I need to study. We all know the familiar feeling of sitting at our desk late at night and cramming the last bits of information in for the next day’s test or exam. Something I really learnt was that we can consecrate our studies to the Lord. I have learnt – and I still am learning – the habit of simply touching the Lord before I study. It is a real help to start a study session with “Oh Lord, be with me as I study for the next hour”. Also, don’t forget to keep calling on Him during your session, not only at the start.

I really enjoyed this year that we can be normal students and still enjoy the Lord. I enjoyed that we are all normal God-men. It is normal to study, but we are also God-men. We can still enjoy the Lord while we study, while we walk to class, when we are in lectures or while we are writing exams. We still have a spirit to turn to and exercise.

Something I was really touched with this year is that the Lord really takes care of us if we take care of Him. If we can consecrate a few hours a week for the Lord and go to home meetings, prayer meetings and the table meeting, the Lord will take care of us. If we take care of the Lord’s need, why will the Lord not take care of our need? I’m not saying, go to every single possible meeting + don’t study and then expect to get your distinction; we still need to do our bit but also take care of the Lord.

I would strongly encourage the students to go to these meetings:

1. The Home meeting: Go and get built up with the saints! Never underestimate the supply of the Body. Even if you just go for a meal and go and study in a separate room afterwards – make sure you are in the homes!
2. The Prayer meeting: Go and fight for the Lord. We as students can really stand one with the Lord in what He is doing on earth. Remember, just by saying “Amen!” we stand with the Lord.
3. The Lord’s Table meeting: To remember and praise the Lord for that He has done.

One song I enjoyed all throughout this year is, “Lord, grant me today’s supply of grace.” Grace is not something superficial or abstract, it is God Himself to be our enjoyment. We need to enjoy grace every day. Luke 2:40 footnote 3 says “As a man, even Jesus needed the grace of God for His human life“. I was really touched with the fact that if the Lord Jesus needed to enjoy God as grace, how much more do we need to enjoy the Lord during our studies. Praise the Lord that even while we are studying we can still turn to our spirit, call on His name, turn to Him and enjoy Him as grace.

[Sharing from a dear brother Christian student on the campus in South Africa concerning, balancing our Christian life / church life with our university / student life. Are they mutually exclusive? Or how do they interrelate? You can follow the testimonies of other Christian believer students via, Being a Christian Student on the Campus. Picture: University of Cape Town, Jameson Hall. If YOU want to share your testimony, please do so – send it to us over at, [email protected].]