Giving God My Best in College: A 7-Day Devotional by Cantice GreeneSýnishorn

What do I do when I’m convicted?

Being a Christian on campus can be lonely and scary. At times, you may be tempted to hide. When you’re tempted, remember this scripture and be encouraged, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11).

My college had a prayer room. I found out about it when I became a chapel assistant in my sophomore year. While my school was not a Christian school, the prayer room was a religious symbol of the founding foregone era. Though I was made aware of the prayer room, I didn’t make use of it until one night several weeks later.

Early one evening, I was at an on-campus bible study. During the meeting, the minister in charge wrote the words “Christ-centered” on the board. Just before he wrote it, I had been boasting about the many activities I was involved in on campus. I was bragging about being well-rounded and scoffed at the other members of the bible study group for doing only “Jesus stuff” and nothing else.

When the minister wrote the word “Christ-centered” on the board, I stopped dead in my tracks. It wasn’t happening publicly, but inside my mind, the stripping bare was real—an inventory of my time had exposed a contradiction between what I said was most important and what actually was.

I speed walked out of that bible study and across campus. By the time I got to the campus green, I was basically jogging. By the time I got to the back steps of the prayer room, I was crying. I cried all the way up the red-carpeted steps that held the podium that held a huge open bible. My tear-blurred vision couldn’t even see the scripture that lay open on the pages.

Something changed in me that night. I was already a Christian, but that night, I recognized hypocrisy in myself. Nobody on campus knew I was a Christian because I hadn’t told them. I could tiptoe to obscure rooms or events off campus after hours to be with other Christians behind closed doors, but I avoided being spotted as a Christian on campus in the daylight. That night, I began to overcome the fear of being misunderstood for embracing the label Christ-follower.

Day 4 Question: How might God be leading you to share your faith with others on the college campus?