Answer: Organizing yourself is an issue of self-discipline that involves choices and consequences. Everyone has 24 hours a day, but that’s about where the similarity stops. Some need more sleep than others. Some have to work more hours than others. Some students need to study more than others, etc.Take some time to identify your long-term goals, such as what you’d like to do after college. Then look at how your short-term goals contribute to your long-term goals. You can go a step further and organize your goals for this school year, even this semester.
As you’re identifying your goals, seek counsel from people you respect. Beware, some will tell you about how to make money or how to become famous. And some will focus on selecting a spouse, or getting a job within the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Perhaps the most important passage of Scripture I can share with you is God’s promise to care for you when you place Him as your first priority. “Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern” (Matthew 6:32, 33, NLT).*
Here are my recommendations. Commit yourself anew to Jesus. Do your very best in what you’re currently doing—going to college. And watch for indications of God’s activity that you can acknowledge and for which you can give Him praise.
You mentioned that you have time to help others only on Sabbath. For years Adventists have seen Sabbath as a time to worship God in church and in scheduled faith-sharing activities. Jesus pointed out that Sabbath is a day for doing good, for helping others (see Matthew 12:12). Of course, every day is a good day to help others, but especially on Sabbath!
It sounds as if you’ve heard people say you need to witness to a friend, conduct a Bible study, or help the needy. Have you considered the possibility that these things can happen right in your current situation?
Witnessing to a friend isn’t something you do from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. on Tuesdays. It’s what you do all the time. Instead of conducting a Bible study, why not join one and actively participate in it? Help the needy? How about studying with a fellow classmate? Witness? You could pray with fellow students or ask a student or teacher to pray for you—on the spot.
Live for Jesus in your daily life as you take classes to prepare you for greater service. If you aren’t serving others now, you probably won’t serve anyone but yourself when you graduate either. But if you develop the attitude and actions of serving others now, you’ll do the same later, too. It’s all a matter of priorities!
*Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
