The Public-Schooled Christian

Christians are called to serve Jesus in whatever they do, including school. But sometimes, living for Jesus in school can be tricky. 

Maybe you’ve struggled with showing Christ’s light in public school. You want to glorify Him, and you’re trying to… but no one around you loves Jesus like you do. 

You’d love to live all-out for Jesus at school. But the thing is, you don’t know exactly how. 

Yes, you know that you’re supposed to share the gospel. You know that you’re supposed to be a light–but how? How do you get the courage and know the steps to take? How do your religion and your school life intersect? 

Those are questions that I aim to answer on this blog. I want to help you in your journey of following Jesus. 

This year, I challenge you to put aside all of your fears, doubts, and worries, and live for Jesus at school. Here are some ways that I challenge you to serve Jesus:

1. Share the gospel like crazy. 

The people around you at school need Jesus. Many of them may be unbelievers, and some of them may be believers who don’t fully understand what Jesus has called them to—to take up their cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). 

And the only way those people will get to learn about the goodness of God and what Jesus did for them is if someone shares the gospel with them. That’s our job as Christians. 

Someone shared the gospel with each of us–our parents, a friend, or someone else. We would have never come to Christ if we weren’t taught what Jesus has done for us, so we should know the importance of sharing who Jesus is with other people. 

Do you know the gospel? You only need to know the basics to share it with someone: that we are sinful, and that our sin nature condemns us to death… but Jesus lived a sinless life and died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. He was victorious over death and rose from the grave. Now, if we put our faith in Him, we can be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God. 

We shouldn’t worry about how qualified we are to share the gospel, or whether the person we share with will accept or reject our message. If we know the gospel, we’re qualified. And whether the person we share with becomes a Christian isn’t up to us–it’s depends on the Holy Spirit moving in them. 

Maybe the person will come to Jesus years later. Maybe they never will. Either way, we will have fulfilled what God has called us to by sharing the good news with them.

I challenge you to be intentional about spreading the gospel. 

2. Pray without ceasing. 

1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. It’s difficult to remember to constantly pray, though. 

I want to pray throughout the school day this year. Will you join me in that goal?

We could pray, “God, help me to glorify you as I complete this assignment,” “Lord, give me an opportunity to share your truth with someone today,” or “Jesus, be with me as I face this situation.”

One aspect of prayer is praying for others. Who around you needs to know the love of Jesus? Pray for them. Is there someone who gets on your nerves? Pray for them, too. Do you have a friend that needs encouragement or is struggling with a school assignment? Pray for that person. 

James 5:16 says that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful, after saying that Christians should pray for one another. Our prayer can make a big difference in someone’s life. Not only that, but talking to God helps us set our gaze on Him and care more about those who we are praying for. 

I challenge you to pray without ceasing this school year. 

3. Be a light. 

Matthew 5:14-16 says, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Christians are a light to a dark world. We are close to Jesus, who is the source of light, and that’s who we get our light from. 

We are called to share this light. But how?

If Jesus is the source of true light, we can show that light to others by being like Jesus. That means loving people even when we don’t particularly like them. That means sharing truth, whether that be through our words or our actions. That means staying focused on God, fighting against sin, and living for His glory. It means staying humble even when our flesh errs towards pride. 

Light is so special because it’s different. Most people don’t have the light of Jesus in them. You are unique because you have that light.

I challenge you to show Jesus’ light this year. 

4. Do it all because of God. 

There’s no point in being different from the rest of the world if you’re not different because of your relationship with God. Doing all of the things I mentioned above would be more draining and probably less impactful if you didn’t do them out of a love for God. 

In Genesis 29 when Jacob worked for 7 years so he could have Rachel as his wife, it said that “they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her” (Genesis 29:20). That wasn’t to say that the work wasn’t hard; just that Jacob knew it was worth it and worked gladly because he was doing it for the one he loved. 

Are you serving God because you love Him? Serving someone we love helps us to work joyfully. 

God should be the focal point of any good works we do. We should want to glorify Him, because He is worthy. 

I challenge you to serve God, and God only, this year. 

A challenge. 

This year, share the gospel, pray like crazy, and be a light because of your love for God. I don’t promise that these things will make the school year easier–in fact, they’ll probably make it harder. But they will be worth it. 

How will you share Jesus’ light? How will you try to pray more? Who will you share the gospel with? Tell me in the comments.

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