#15 - To Christian Teens Graduating From High School…

[When I was in the hospital in February, ’06, recovering from open-heart surgery, I told God one night that the thing I would most love to do is to speak to a stadium full of Christian teens several times a week and to a stadium full of non-Christian teens the other days of the week. With the last group of middle schools guys I worked with now graduating from high school, and with this year being the 40th year since I graduated from high school myself, I decided to finally start a blog site directed to Christian teens (and hopefully draw some non-Christian teens) and to post my own unofficial commencement address as the first posting. You will find my new blog at: stan4youth.blogspot. My new blog site has links and other resources; I hope that you will recommend any Christian youth you know to please check it out. com I am reproducing that “address” here.}

When I graduated from high school 40 years ago (yes, I’m a 1969 graduate), I don’t remember anything about that commencement address. But I will never forget the outdoor ceremony I participated in years later when I graduated from college. It had rained the night before and our seats were still wet when we sat down. (For some reason, no one thought of wiping them off before the ceremony started.) It was quite humbling to about to be a college graduate and find myself forced to sit there with my bottom soaking wet. But then, the university president spoke. He concluded his brief remarks by saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations! Today your intelligence has been certified. From now on, if anyone questions how smart you are, you can hit them over the head with your mortarboard!”

Of course, we all had a good laugh at that remark, but on reflection those words communicated more wisdom than I then realized. Our education certainly indicates that we have acquired some knowledge but it says nothing about how much wisdom we have acquired. And throughout our life, what will really count will never be how much knowledge we attain but how wisely we apply that knowledge to live selfless rather than selfish lives. At the end of your life, they will not remember you for how smart you were but for how well you lived life. While some may choose to measure you by the number of degrees or the amount of power or recognition you’ve acquired, the really successful life will be one “lived well.” (Those trophies and awards you’ve acquired over the years are a great testimony to your hard work but sooner than you think they will rust and be forgotten by others and even yourself.)

And just what is a life lived well? Well, as Christians it should be evident that it is one lived according to God’s will for your life as best as you are able. In case you haven’t already, I’d like to encourage you to look at how God has gifted you - what things you enjoy doing and have natural or acquired skills to do. Consider what kinds of careers would allow you to use those gifts and to work with passion. Don’t consider the standard of living or anything else but whether it would be doing things you would be excited to do every day. When you decide what the best career for you would be, pursue a course of study to enable you to have such a career. You may or may not find that “right” job right away but always keep searching for it. My prayer is that you will live each day of your life with joy as you use your giftedness from God to please Him, to serve others, and to please yourself.

As a Christian, I trust that you are already aware that your faith will be challenged and almost certainly will meet hostility of some kind in college, if you haven’t already. (I was once openly laughed at for carrying a Bible on my college campus.) You will be challenged to be a “free thinker,” which will essentially mean providing air-tight answers to questions about your faith in God, something that is not always possible. But always remember that your faith IS based on solid, intellectual evidence and is anything but a “blind faith.” There is no field of study that has all of its questions answered conclusively and is without differing opinions of some kind. That, after all, is why learning is an ongoing process of discovery, and when it comes to the basic truths of your faith, expect them to withstand the harshest questioning as it has for thousands of years.

And no matter what you hear in your classrooms or other media or read in any book on your required course reading list, always listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you when something “just doesn’t sound right” because it probably isn’t. There is always another side to any issue that will be discussed and the right answer will always be that which is supported by biblical truth. If you aren’t fully given the opposing view without bias, then Truth demands that you examine any argument before accepting it. Remember, the only really dumb question is the one never asked. (If you have a question, you can be sure there are others in your class with the same question.)

Above all, remember that you are not just a student at your school but a Christian student. In every classroom, every gathering you find yourself in, you are Christ’s ambassador to those who have never heard of God’s truths. One day, a mentor took me to the center of my college campus and stood with me as the bell sounded ending another class period. Suddenly, as we looked at the entrance of one building, hundreds of students started pouring out. My friend pointed at the students and said, “Stan, no matter how many degrees those students earn while they are here, NOTHING they learn will be more significant in their lives than what you have to share with them when you share the gospel.” The truth of that statement just blew me away and I have never forgotten it.

And so, my friends, I challenge you to begin by praying – by name – for as many of your classmates and, of course, your teachers, as you can. Pray that each will have the opportunity while they are at that school to hear the truths of the gospel and then ask God to use you in any way He chooses, whether by your life example or your words, to direct them to Jesus. I believe that there are no “accidental” students. I believe that every Christian student is at their particular school, and in their particular classes, and at the time he or she is there, for the purpose of making an impact on those students, teachers, and other adults. Always be aware that – wherever God leads you in life - you can make an eternal difference in people’s lives if you simply choose to be available to God to use you, by your life, and if necessary, by your words (praying for them and sharing your faith with them.)

There you have it. What I’ve written and what you’ve hopefully been patient enough to read may be things you’ve already considered. If so, that’s great. But I don’t apologize for re-stating things that are not new because I hope it serves to just emphasize those things in your mind and heart. Again, congratulations on all your hard work and all you’ve accomplished!

“Lord Jesus, may each Christian graduate seek after you with all of their heart, and no matter how difficult the road ahead may prove, may they always be aware of your abiding presence and hand upon their lives. I thank you that, as your Word promises, you will never leave them nor forsake them (Hebrews 13:5), and that you have planned that they will have a future of great hope. (Jeremiah 29:11). I trust that wherever they go on in life, they will be effective ambassadors through their life and their words, that they will impact eternity greatly and will have lived well. And finally, to those who don’t know you, may their day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2), their day of recognizing your love for them, their need for your forgiveness, and their embracing Jesus death and resurrection on their behalf, come very soon I pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”

P. S. - Dear graduates, please make a point of publicly (say at your graduation party) THANK YOUR PARENTS for their years of support. They deserve to hear that.