Living the life of a student – a routine we’re all very much familiar with. The usual day starts bright and early in the morning. We get ready for school, we go to school, we get back home, study, have dinner and finally go to bed. And not to mention the daily struggle with our sin and wicked desires that just seem to never end. This is the student life, five days a week, on repeat.
At times, we feel like our lives have turned into this dreary and wearisome cycle. As a result, we stop working hard and start doubting the way we live as Christians. We start to ask ourselves; am I really living the life God wants me to live? What is the meaning of my life? Such are the questions that everyone asks. Yet, there are few who find the answers.
At school, during scripture class one day, my friends were made to answer the question; what is the meaning of human life? Like many, they weren’t able to answer. Later that day, my friends and I broke into a long discussion. I wasn’t surprised to see that nobody had a certain answer they genuinely believed in. When I told them that the purpose of life is to live for God and His glory, they simply brushed it off as yet another ‘silly Christian story’.
Despite knowing that true satisfaction is only found in God, my friends insisted on sticking to no answer rather than accepting the truth that our lives belong to God and that we need to place Him first in our hearts instead of ourselves.
Oh, how wicked are we. Constantly wanting to selfishly place ourselves above all else despite our insignificance!
Designed to Work
As you might already know, it is God’s design for us to serve Him with our whole lives, and in doing so, we find true joy. Man was never made to waste time and spend whole afternoons playing video games, scrolling through Insta, or watching television. We also weren’t designed to just exist and live halfheartedly, and we should know that. We know that we should live a life that glorifies Him and enjoys Him. Colossians 1:16 says, “all things have been created through Him and for Him”. But, how can we live a life that serves God zealously and wholeheartedly when each day feels the same as the last?
Giving it ALL
Firstly, we must give ourselves wholly to God. Giving ourselves is when we earnestly and gladly say, “Lord I am no longer my own master. You are my Master, Saviour and Shepherd, only in you am I satisfied!”. Not just simply saying it in prayer but to truly know and accept that Christ has saved us and purchased us for God through His death on the cross, as said in Revelation 5:9, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
We need to surrender everything; our struggles, our time, our desires and all our idols that unrighteously fill the throne of our hearts. As Matthew 16:14 says, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me”.”
A life of Joy in Christ
So why is it that we feel ‘bored’ and unsatisfied with our lives?
Addressing our daily struggle in sin, when we realise the extent and severity of our sins, the answer is not to try even harder to ‘overcome our sin’ ourselves because quite frankly, we can’t. No matter how hard we try, we will never be ‘perfect’, we will never be ‘good enough’ because sin is part of our very nature. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It is foolish to think that we have nearly enough strength to overcome the power of wickedness through our own strength.
What we need to do when we see our sins is to realise and look upon our profound need for Christ our Saviour. In our total depravity, we must see the greatness of God’s grace for us sinners. We must rely on God to give us the strength to fight our sins and let Christ live through our daily lives. As Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
I have no doubt that we have all taken something for granted. Taking our life for granted is something that can cause us to feel like our daily lives are so repetitive and boring. I, personally, have certainly failed to see the vastness and bottomless well of blessings that God has given to me. I am currently still trying to see, appreciate and utilise every little thing I have graciously been given when I really do not deserve any of it in the slightest. I have looked over many things from graces like the warmth of the sun to having an education and being able to read God’s word freely every single day.
Especially in our teenage years where we always want more, where the world is always encouraging us to want exactly what we don’t have, we fail to see what we have already been given and the endless beauty of the Lord that is reflected in all of His creation and plans. Psalm 27:4 says “One thing I ask from the Lord this, only do I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”
There is no end to what God has done for us, and when we are able to wake each morning, we are given even more grace to be able to look again at His marvellous works that constantly surround us. How can we live a gloomy life knowing that the sovereign God who created the universe has let us live yet one more day and has given us a new chance to live for Him. In our daily devotions, we should simply take a moment to stop and simply stand in awe of God and His new mercies that are given to us with each new day.
However, it shouldn’t just stop there. Once we have seen all we have been given, it must not simply be admired and then wasted. We must utilise every little thing to bring glory back to God for what He has done. We must do our best in everything we do, that we may bring others to look upon Him. Like the parable of the talents (in Matthew 25:14–30), we are His servants who are called to work and do as much as we can for God’s glory through our talents and what is given to us.
As young people, we must strive to have fruitful labour for the Lord and not waste the limited time that we have. Work your hardest for things that are eternal and live to the fullest for God. Most importantly, pray, fellow teens. Beg for a life that is used by God and beg for a heart that is humble and willing to obey because if we don’t live a life for God, we are living a life completely in vain.