Christian Students: The Most Important Thing You Can Remember this Semester

February 10th, 2023

You have a lot on your mind. You’ve gotten your syllabi and see the research paper deadlines, assigned readings, labs, and study groups. You know (or at least really hope!) it’s going to get done but you have to talk yourself down from panicking.

As you’re plugging dates and reminders into your “to do” app, you get a text from a friend wondering if you’re still available to help with that event you agreed to go to a few weeks ago. You know you haven’t called your parents since the semester started and they aren’t going to be satisfied much longer with a few short texts here and there. You need to do laundry and pick up your area of the room before your roommate moves out – or more likely, moves you out! You’re trying to manage your anxiety, but it’s exhausting with all there is to do.

But, there is one thing that is more important to remember than anything else:

God loves you like he loves Jesus. He really does.

Is knowing how much God loves you that important? Absolutely. It’s important enough to God for you to know that he loves you and that he didn’t just tell you, he shows you he loves you.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, emphasis mine)

How should knowing God loves you like he loves Jesus help you through this semester?

1. He is already happy with you

What you do – good or bad – cannot change his love for you. He is as pleased with you as he is with Jesus. You are his much-loved son/daughter with whom he is well-pleased. You can outperform the rest of the students in your major or you can underperform and that doesn’t change his delight in you. Jesus performed perfectly for you and that is what God sees.

2. He cares about what you’re going through

Our hearts are quick to accuse him when things get hard, but his actions of love are proof that he cares. Nothing you go through is harder than what God submitted himself to in the person of Jesus – physical torture, emotional pain, and relational separation from the one he loved most. He willingly entered into the deepest suffering so he could help you through it now and eventually rescue you from it for good!

3. He will never leave you

Others will come and go. There are difficult break-ups, trying relationships, and betrayals in friendship. But God’s love reminds you that you are secure in him. He will never leave you or forsake you. He turned his face away from Jesus so he could turn his face toward you. His is the one relationship you can always count on. He has made a way to be near to you and will continue to be for all eternity.

4. He will give you all you need

If he gave you Jesus, the most precious thing he had, he will certainly freely and generously give you everything else. He will give you love, peace, joy, self-control, gentleness, and boldness. The list could go on! Everything he asks of you, he will supply for you. This doesn’t mean it will instantly be easy to obey, but it does mean he can provide strength step-by-step, and wisdom choice-by-choice to follow him.

5. You are free

You can actually enjoy this semester and all that it brings, instead of feeling dominated by it. You are free to rest in Jesus’ work for you as you do your work. You are free to love others who are hard to love because you don’t need their love reciprocated since you know how loved you are. You are free to resist temptation and not sin because God has given you all you need to obey. You are free to do good, not because you need to earn others' acceptance, but because you already have God’s.

“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. . .if the son sets you free, you are free, indeed.” (John 8:32, 36)