Staying Saved in School

Summer has passed us by and the beginning of the school year is upon us! If your summer was anything like mine it went by too fast, and it was way… too… hot. (Humidity is not for me friends!)

When I was in school I always loved the “going back to school” feeling, it was like the “getting out of school” feeling in reverse. I loved shopping for school supplies and new school accessories, going to school orientation, and receiving the list of classes I would be taking. 

But I am not so far out of school to forget the nerves that came with a new school year. New kids, new teachers, would there be any girls I could befriend? Any cute guys? 

The dawn of a new school year feels like a chance to create a “new you”, it sort of is, however, it’s easy to quickly fade into the trends and the mold that others set and forget who you are. 

How are we supposed to approach a new school year? 

Starting Strong

The best advice I can give you going into this school year is to make stands early. This is true in any new atmosphere you will ever go into as a Christian, first job, club sports, college, and more. 

When you let people know that you are a Christian and that you have standards for yourself early on it saves you from lots of sticky situations later. 

If you immediately begin to compromise and “go with the flow” of the crowd, when you are faced with a serious choice between right and wrong you’re less likely to do the right thing. So don’t wait! Right away tell the new kids that you meet that you are a Christian, if you got saved over the summer tell your friends! 

You don’t have to be weird about it, everyone is going to be asking what you did over the summer, and if you gave your life to Christ then you can tell them about the life-changing decision you made! If you’ve been a Christian, what is something that you did over the summer that was for your church? Did you attend a church conference, participate in park outreach, or go on a mission trip? If you did that’s a great way to tell your new friends something cool you did over the summer while also letting them know you are a Christian. 

Once you have established your beliefs you must live them out. People will be watching, even if you don’t realize it. They want to know if you are who you say you are. If you quickly lower your standards and follow the crowd, you leave a bad testimony and misrepresent Christ.

Matthew 7:16

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

The long run

Many times, it’s easy to start the school year strong, witnessing to friends, making stands against sin, and seeking to glorify God in your schoolwork. As time goes on, however, we tend to slack off a bit. Some backslide completely, but many tend to just “take it easy” by not stopping a friend when she’s gossiping about someone, or choosing not to speak up when the teacher says there are more than 2 genders. These things might seem small but they quickly lead to larger consequences. 

I’ve seen countless people start off the school year strong, excited for what God will use them for in their classes, only to find that they have grown carnal by Thanksgiving time. The race that we are running is a marathon, not a sprint, we are to be faithful over time. Serving God in school is the same concept. 

We must fight to keep the world out of our hearts. Over the summer you probably spent more time with your church friends than usual, but when school starts you are being influenced by your school friends more since you see them daily. It’s easy to slowly fall back into your old patterns of living. 

We like to default to what is familiar or comfortable. That “back-to-school feeling” is similar to the feeling of Christmas time. When the weather starts to change and the Christmas trees come out you start to feel the hustle and bustle of the season, you crave hot chocolate, and you subconsciously start singing Christmas carols. Because it’s familiar, you do those things without much effort. School is like that too. You automatically start to loathe Mrs. So-and-So’s Language class, you complain about the cafeteria food because that’s what you would always do, and when the cute guy in Science class flirts with you you flirt back because that’s what you did last year. See? It’s easy to forget the stands you were going to make, the commitments you made to Christ, and the fire for God that was burning in your heart can be quickly stomped out by the “familiar”.

Knowing who you are in Christ and being confident in your identity is key. When you aren’t confident in these things it will be easier for you to bend to the mold the world pushes you into. On the other hand, when you are bold for God and confident in who He has made you to be, you will have the ability to stand for righteousness. 

It’s worth it

I’d like to encourage you with a little bit of my mom’s story. 

She went to 10 different schools since she moved a lot as a pastor’s kid. At every school she attended she witnessed to her schoolmates and preached on the tables and planters. My mom never shied away from a chance to share the Gospel with anyone or to make stands. When boys would try to “make a move” on her she was known to backhand them, when others would laugh and mock her she would “grin and bear it”. I won’t sugarcoat her struggles she would often sit alone in the lunch room, tears streaming down her face, since no one wanted to be known as her friend. Of course, some girls bullied her mercilessly.*

She would give a short testimony at school talent shows and then sing a Christian song. When she was going to present a project in class she would make sure the Gospel was added in. She almost always stood alone, there would be times when church friends or her siblings were saved and they would outreach the school, but then her friends would let their fire fade away and leave her alone. She never caved to the temptation to just quit. 

My mom has no regrets. She never backed down, never compromised, and never backslid. When she looks back on what some would say she “missed out on” she feels no remorse. She did all that God wanted her to, all she missed was sin, and the heartache that comes with it. 

This too can be said of you! Whether you’ve started school or not purpose in your heart that you will stand for righteousness even when it’s hard. Choose to stay pure even when everyone else is hooking up. Speak up for the truth when it is being beaten in the streets. Don’t back down, if God is for you (He is if you are serving Him, and doing what is right), who can be against you? (Romans 8:31)

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*With God we always win.

About 6 years ago a lady approached my mom while she was dropping me and my sister off at school. She asked my mom if she remembered her, and my mom apologized that she didn’t. However, when the lady said her name my mom remembered, that she was the most outspoken and perverted girl who bullied my mom when she was in high school. The lady told my mom that she never forgot what my mom said when she would witness and preach, she told my mom how the words that she said would convict her. She told of how she was jealous of my mom when they were in school, so she mocked her.

The best part of the story is that lady became a Christian because of my mom's influence, she said she had been looking for her for years to tell her and thank her. My mom was shocked! As I mentioned she didn’t have any regrets but you always wonder if you made a lasting impact, it's clear that she did! I have no doubt that many others will never forget the words that my mom spoke to them when witnessing, and who knows, they may become Christians too.