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

Do you Know More about God or Your Major?

There’s no place like college. At what other time in your life do you get to study what you want, going deeply into a subject to prepare for the next chapter of your life? It’s an amazing time. But college also brings challenges.

In college, you are forced to study. You study because you don’t want to waste the time and money you spent to be enrolled in the first place. You study because you actually do want to graduate someday.

It may seem logical to study to pass a test in class, but what about the way we prepare for the other tests in life? When you read the bible, are you reading to prepare for a test? What would that look like anyway?

When I read the bible, it’s not to prepare for a test, at least not consciously. I read to understand who God is and who I am.

While I was in college, the bible really started making sense to me. I’ll never forget where I was when I first read and understood the first chapter of the book of Romans. I specifically remember Romans 1:18-20, that says:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…

I was sitting on the steps waiting for my church to open for Wednesday night service. The words of the chapter came alive to me, and suddenly, I understood the state of the world today, including who I was, apart from the grace of God in my life.

The world knows that God exists and that we could know Him more intimately if we’d only stop suppressing the things He reveals to us daily: His goodness, His majesty, His grace. If you’re like me, you want to know God, and you don’t want to be unprepared for the tests of life. Commit to getting to know God through reading His word. If you and I do this, the world, as complicated as it is, will start to make sense.

Day 2 Question: In what ways has the word of God helped you understand the conditions of this world?