Don’t let God take a back seat for your selfish earthly desires

“Our kid is going to _ _ _ _ University.” This is a common answer you hear when you ask someone if their child is doing well in his or her spiritual life. That person is confusing faith with going to a good school. How come?

First, there are many believers who firmly believe that entering a prestigious university and having a promising occupation will be of help to the kingdom of God. The assumption that people who are from a renowned university have different effects on evangelism than those who aren’t is a problem in itself.

Second, those same believers have a tendency to mistake a prestigious university or a popular job itself as glorifying God. It’s another story if such a reputation and honor were earned as a result of living a life of glorifying God, but it is wrong to think of glorifying Him by scrutinizing the social status of a school or an occupation. If perhaps a position of prestige does amount to glorifying the Lord, how will you explain a case where a non-believer attends an Ivy League school and gets a high-paying, sought after job? There are countless people in this world who are from reputable schools and workplaces, who not only don’t know God but also ignore and mock Him. We need to know that there are a lot of wealthy people, doctorate holders and artists among non-believers. And believers who are not from a prestigious university or do not have an “acceptable” occupation, are they not being able to glorify God? Not at all. Those who have ordinary academic backgrounds and unnoticeable professions are glorifying the Lord in great ways all over the world, even in this moment.

We must not make the excuse that all that we are doing is for the glory of God while in reality, we’re only struggling to obtain earthly glory for ourselves. King Saul was a man of this sort. We must keep in mind that King Saul was abandoned by God for making the excuse that he wanted to give a sacrificial offering to God to cover up what he did for his greed for wealth and power. That’s not to say you shouldn’t go to a prestigious school or get a good job; in fact, you should. More Christians in particular, should go into good schools and a notable workforce. But you should not change your goals and priorities. There should not be a sacrifice of time, money and spiritual gifts meant to be used for faith and a preoccupation on worldly things to achieve earthly glory from people under the excuse of furthering His kingdom, at least in a believing family.