Is Jesus even relevant at uni?

Having spent a year at university, I have come to realise that, broadly speaking, there are two types of people. Firstly there is the person who spends their whole time studying and who is stingy with their money in order to put them in the best position possible for once they finish their time at university. The other person is the person who sees university as the time of their life – this is the person who has probably eaten into their overdraft already by spending all of their time, money and energy on clubbing, drinking and living the high life. Of course, these are two extremes and the majority of people lie somewhere on this spectrum. But wherever you are on this spectrum is more-or-less irrelevant – it is all extremely fragile.

The person who studies endlessly may forget that life here-and-now is life at all; they may be just so focussed on the future that life now just passes them by. The problem is, though, that this is never-ending; having gotten their first job, their time and energy will be put into a promotion or a pay-rise etc. so that, once again, life in the present could just pass them by. On the other extreme, people always talk about your time at uni finishing in the blink of an eye so, before they know it, the person who treats uni as one big party may find that they have nowhere to go once their three or four years of university are up. Once again, these are extremes that I am considering but I think that the last few months, living in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, have really helped to highlight the fragility and precarious nature of life at university and life in general.

This pandemic has demonstrated to us that, no matter how hard you work and how much time you pour into your future, nothing is certain and, in a flash, the world as we know it can suddenly change. There are countless numbers of students who will have spent a good 3 to 4 years at university all gearing up for a month-long slog of exams. Yet with no end result – the coronavirus has shown us that even these “normal” exams aren’t certain. Now, there are so many people awaiting what their future holds as we reach the start of the new academic year. “Where will I be working?” “Will I even get a job?” And so on. While I have just finished my first year, I have experienced this feeling somewhat with all of my final exams and assessments cancelled. The world is just so unpredictable.

Similarly, those who really thrive off the social side of university will have been having to socially distance for the past few months (along with the rest of us) and, with restaurants and bars and clubs only just starting to resume business, I cannot begin to imagine how tough these last few months have been for people who find all of their community and their sense of identity in these places.

But this is where God comes in.

At university, everyone seeks a purpose, and everyone craves identity and meaning to their life. But the things on this earth are just so fleeting, just so temporary and just so uncertain. Jesus is not. At my time at university and in my life in general, Jesus is the one that I look to for my meaning (Romans 8:31-39), for my identity (Psalm 23:1) and for my purpose (Matthew 28:18-20). And that takes the pressure off my shoulders. All of a sudden, my time at uni is not all about me, about getting good grades to make it to a good job or about trying to find identity and enjoyment in drinking and clubbing. My future is not down to me – it is down to God and I can just rest and know that God has the best plans for me (Romans 8:28). So instead of rushing around trying to find my identity in Spoons, Covid and Grades, I can just trust in God knowing that He has got my future sorted, that he is relevant to every step of my life and provides me with an unfailing hope. For me, Jeremiah 29:11 simply sums this up:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11