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

Can You Handle the Truth?

I recently interviewed a college senior about his experience being a Christian in college. When someone in the audience asked whether the college climate is as difficult for Christians as we are sometimes made to believe, the student gave an example. He recalled being in a class where students were assigned to read Socrates. The professor asked the question, “Does absolute truth exist?” He was the only student who raised his hand to say yes, it does.

Not only did his classmates not agree with him, but they also unmuted their microphones (it was a Zoom class session) to literally shout at him as if, with his answer, he had broken a social code.

Sometimes, it gets lonely when you’re a confident Christian on a secular college campus; our ideas are not usually popular. It takes courage to speak up for the things God has proclaimed in His word.

In John chapter fourteen, verse six, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” When He said this statement, it was as controversial then as it is now. Even though the society they lived in was Jewish and religious, the gospel of Jesus still represented a new (and often unpopular) understanding of God. The listeners knew that Jesus’s statement implied He was one with (or equal in value to) God.

When we say that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, we are saying there is no other way to eternal life except through the sacrificed and risen Son of God. That’s a mouthful, but it’s the truth!

If you want to be ready to stand up for the truth the next time it (or He) is questioned, then prepare yourself with the word of God, and remember this: “Whoever trusts in the name of the Lord will never be put to shame” (Romans 10:11).

Day 3 Question: How might God be leading you to stand for Him?