RYAN MORENA | guest writer

Take advantage of your college opportunity, because it is a rare one that not many get to experience.

The words Jon Wallace and Francis Chan have spoken in chapel seem to have struck a chord with many APU students this year. The theme is “going and doing” – avoiding the mistake the rich young ruler made.

Why does God want us here? Why can’t I go into ministry now? These are just a few questions we’re asking ourselves this year, wondering what it would look like to surrender the prospect of a college degree to go serve now.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are probably a few students God is calling to go serve now; but as for the rest of us, I think we’ve simply failed to develop a working theology of academia.

As a result, I think we’ve confused our inability to articulate our calling and purpose in being here for an expressed purpose to be elsewhere.

Let me rephrase that: I think the reason we’re so shaken up by the words of Jon Wallace and Francis Chan is not because we’re being called to go now, but rather because we haven’t taken the time to figure out for ourselves what God might be doing in us here that might make an even greater impact in the Kingdom later.

Even when APU was founded in 1899, it was established to serve as (and was aptly named) a Training School for Christian Workers. We seem so predisposed to action that we forget to acknowledge that God is constantly preparing both our minds and our hearts, and I would argue that – regardless of your major – being a diligent student is as legitimate as reading the Bible or spending time in prayer and solitude in terms of spiritual disciplines.

Think about it: all of the spiritual disciplines we practice (or would like to practice) are performed to draw us into a clearer understanding of who God is and what role He might have for us in our participation in the Kingdom; the same is true for academic pursuits.

I’ve had to come to grips with the fact that God doesn’t need me to help sustain His work in the Kingdom, and if I want to serve God as faithfully and effectively as I can, then perhaps I have to pursue the knowledge academia has to offer while that opportunity is still a reality.

There’s a website (100people.org, for those interested) that lays out what the world’s population would look like if the entirety of the 6.5 billion people in the world were constrained to only 100 individuals, and it is a powerful illustration of the state of poverty in the world today.

Most of you have probably encountered this study in your class time – I know I have. For those who haven’t, you should check it out. Only one member of this 100-person community would have a college education.

Obviously, constraining the world’s population to only 100 people seriously hinders the accuracy of such statistics, but given the roster of professors listed on the website, I think it’s safe to say that the statistic is between 1-2%.

If it’s true that only one percent of the world’s population ever gets the opportunity to receive a college education why would anyone give up such an opportunity? What motivates people to feel guilty about the blessings they’ve received from God?

For most of us, myself included, we have yet to come to grips with the fact that we’re here receiving a higher education that has been ordained by God.

This institution serves countless purposes for different people; some are humorous and some are intriguing. Whether you’re here for the $100k piece of paper, or the ring by spring, or because you’re the first in your family to get a college education, or because the field you’ve chosen demands a higher education, we’re all here for a reason.

Let me tell you what APU is to me: it’s my monastery. Before I continue, I should explain that my little dictionary defines a monastery as “a community of persons living under religious vows; or the place of residence occupied by such persons.”

That’s right, the “APU Bubble” that many of us have grown either overly dependent on or overly critical of can serve a positive spiritual purpose. I get the opportunity to spend four years academically studying and reflecting on God’s character and then learning the best way to share it with adolescents.

I’m being equipped to pursue my passions, as most of us are. Not only that, but I get to live out this opportunity in a community of 4,200 other students each pursuing his or her own calling and sharpening each other the way iron sharpens iron.

I long for the day I graduate and get to work in the field of vocational ministry, and I’m clearly not the only one.

As eager as I am, however, it would be extremely foolish to neglect the work God is doing in me now so that I might be more fully equipped to effectively participate in the Kingdom vocationally.

As anxious as you may be to go now, I would encourage you to consider APU your monastery as well. Open yourselves more wholly to receiving this rarity of a higher education and participation in this community which, after four years, will cease to be a reality that we get to live in.