A Letter to My Peers

To my friends, my fellow classmates who graduated in 2007,

It has been nearly two years since we finished up classes and graduated Lakeside. It might be helpful for us to take a minute and look back on where we were and where we are and where we are heading. I invite you to do that with me.

I know that many of us, not all, but many, would have openly confessed to one another that Jesus Christ is Lord and that we had committed our lives to Him. This is the common ground from which we began. And for those who may have hesitated to do so, you at least knew the truth about Christ and the gospel. But nearly all of us would have said, and indeed did say that we were Christians.

I'm not sure that the same group who made that confession then would make it now. But that is not the point. The point is this: What should we be living our lives for? How should we live in light of what we know? What are our passions, and what do they say about us?

After graduation, we moved into the world with a freedom of sorts that we never had before. This presented us with new challenges and new opportunities. I have, along with many of you, felt the challenges of being in some sense an "independent citizen" (or whatever you may call it). My aim here is to share encouragement through the challenges so that we may take hold of the opportunities.

Perhaps more intensely than ever before, we now have the pressure of a world that says, "Live for your entertainment, your appeasement, your pleasures." To put it in biblical terms, I'd like to call it the "Eat, drink, and be merry" mentality. In other words, the sum total of all my actions and attitudes right now amounts to no more than a striving for a moment's happiness. This can take many forms, and it is almost certain that we've all embraced it at some time or another, to some extent.

This sounds like really shrewd advice to most ears. Live for your enjoyment! Even as I write it, there is the inner questioning, "Do I really disagree?" Eat, drink and be merry! How bad of an idea could that be? Bad enough to rob you of all joy forever. You may disagree with that last statement. It is a hard statement to accept, so I'll show you the root of "Eat, drink and be merry" and hope that you disagree more with that.

We find the idea of "Eat drink and be merry" in 1 Cor 15:32. What is the reasoning behind it? "Tomorrow we die" -and that's all there is. Our hearts should rebel against that line of reasoning. We know the truth, we believe that there is life after death, don't we? We were together in Apologetics class, we know that this truth makes sense. How then will we live as if there is no higher purpose? How will we live as if death brings the end of us? When we live purely for our entertainment, whether that means wasting hours on video games, frequenting clubs and parties to find some social enjoyment, or working hour after hour so that school or work becomes our god, we proclaim our fundamental agreement that the world is a purposeless accident that has no ultimate meaning.

Yet we know there is hope. There is a higher purpose. There is another "eating and drinking" that Paul speaks about. It's in 1 Cor 10:31, where Paul says we should do all to the glory of God. This is our higher purpose. And we have an opportunity to use our new freedom to pursue His glory like never before. Why would we look for joy anywhere else? Who can give joy like our God?(Ps 16:11) Is there any thing this world has for us that can rise above what God can give? Of course not, God created the world. He makes us rejoice in our hope(Rom 5:2), rejoice in our suffering(Rom 5:3) and rejoice in Him(Rom 5:11). Our trust is in Him, what can man do to us?(Ps 56:11) All things work together those who trust Him. There is no one who can be against us when God is for us. (Rom 8:28, 31)

This is my prayer for us. Let us call on God, and then watch Him come through for us and for his glory(Ps 50:15). Let us pursue a tasting, and a sight of God's goodness(Ps 34:8). Let us hope in Him, for when we do our hope will not disappoint us (Rom 5:5 NIV).

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." (Rom 15:13)

-Trevor