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

Is high school faith sufficient for college tests?

My high school relationship with God was not strong enough to keep me faithful to Him in college—where I faced strong opposition to the Christian lifestyle. I discovered I had to develop new habits of worship, of bible reading, of being with other Christians, and of confession and repentance. Consider these experiences I share and determine whether God is nudging you to get to know Him better.

I didn’t realize my former relationship with God was insufficient until I faced opposition to things that I believed were true. These challenges came from every direction—friends, professors, love interests… I grappled over questions like: How is gender defined? Who is worthy of being my authority? Who controls my sexuality? Has Christianity been used as a tool of oppression?

During college, I would have to answer these questions for myself instead of going through the motions of life with doubts or wavering convictions. One issue I stumbled over again and again was my love life. I began dating in eighth grade. By high school, I had a steady boyfriend. My high school sweetheart was not a Christian when we started dating, and naturally, he wanted the relationship to advance sexually.

Although I didn’t have sex with my high school sweetheart, I did have sex in a relationship in college, not because I loved this guy more, but because I had begun believing the philosophies (lies) of the world: that being chaste was limiting to women and that sexual expression equalled liberation.

While I was trying to get a grip on my life and my relationships with God and men, a classmate invited me to a Christian conference. One night at the conference, the minister preached about covenants; he made a parallel between sex and the sacredness of covenants. His message strongly impacted me, especially as I was regretful of my decision to have sex prematurely. More importantly, that message made me want to learn more about God. Ultimately, learning more about God strengthened my trust in God and deepened my relationship with Him.

Even if you think you know God already, can you ever really know Him enough? Romans 11:33 proclaims, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and His ways past finding out!"

Day 1 Question: How can your relationship with God be deepened by learning more about Him?