Imagine yourself as a kid sitting through yet another Sunday church service. Your mom keeps telling you to keep your feet off the pew in front of you and your dad scolds you for not holding your hymnal up. Fast forward a few years, and now you’re a teenager, staring at the preacher with glazed eyes, itching to pull out your phone and pass the time scrolling social media.
And just like before, you think, “I can’t wait until I’m older. Then no one can make me go to church.”
Then you graduate high school, move out of the house, and into a college dorm where, lo and behold, nobody’s analyzing your every move or dragging you out of bed on Sunday mornings. Yippee!
Now what?
If you’re a recent graduate, congratulations! You have essentially entered this new and exciting world of adulthood. You are now independent and responsible for your own choices. You can do what you want.
And that means it’s time to take responsibility for your faith.
Hi, I’m Lauren Thell, author of Christian YA fiction and blogger for teens who are ready to exceed the world’s expectations.
In This Article
Choose For Yourself Who You Will Be
The transition to adulthood is a critical crossroads for all young adults. It’s the time when you must choose whether to take responsibility for your faith or abandon it altogether. You will either look at church and Christianity and say there’s nothing there, and none of this means anything, or it’s deeply true, and that changes everything.
So many will choose the “nothing there” approach, where you are no longer accountable to a higher power and your life is lived entirely in service to self. Those who do view this path as the way to freedom from what they otherwise consider oppression to self-autonomy.
But odds are if you’re on this site—whether because you came here directly or ended up here through a search—you’re not ready to walk away from the notion that “it’s deeply true.”
And I commend you for making that hard choice—a choice that is only the beginning of a series of hard choices you’ll have to make.
Church or No Church?
Not gonna lie, when you’re in college (or working your first full-time, backbreaking job), sleeping in on the weekend is a luxury right up there with a homecooked meal and having someone to do your laundry. The last thing you want is to change out of your comfy lounge clothes and make yourself presentable to the public. And who’s gonna know? Mom and Dad aren’t there to make sure you’re at nine a.m. worship, so why not take it easy? You could always listen to Christian radio later.
This is probably the most critical mistake many young adults make: eschewing church. Your faith needs the rejuvenation of regular time in worship with other Christians. If you let this go, it won’t be long before your faith crumbles.
Decide today that you will worship the Lord, even when no one is there to make you go to church on Sunday.
Please read my post Why Young Christians Absolutely Need to Go to Church.
To Party or Not to Party?
Ever look at the adults in your life and think, “Man, I can’t wait until I’m old enough to [fill in the blank]”?
What is it that you think you’ve been missing out on? Smoking? Legal consumption of alcohol? Using cuss words freely? Going to the casino and dropping a hundred bucks on a game of Blackjack? Watching R-rated movies? Sex?
That isn’t adulthood. That’s “adultolescence,” where you’re just a bigger kid engaging in more riskier behaviors. The truth is, some things are just as sinful for adults as they are for kids. God instructs us to use language that edifies, not gratifies, no matter what age you are (Ephesians 4:29). Some media (movies, websites, magazines, novels, etc.) isn’t fit for consumption at any time in your life (Psalm 101:3). Sex is still reserved for marriage, whether you’re eighteen or fifty-seven (Hebrews 13:4). And you might want think twice about whether other “adult” activities are worth the problems they bring (Galatians 5:16).
As you transition to adulthood, hold yourself accountable to Christian standards, even when your parents aren’t there to do it for you.
GOD, OR SELF?
Ultimately, you’ve reached the point where you now have to decide what god you’ll serve: the God of all creation, or yourself? I hope that you will make it your goal to serve Christ in all you do, whether in class at a university, having lunch with your coworkers, hanging out with your friends at a dorm party, or sitting alone in front of your computer.
Your life has meaning beyond what you can see right now.
Take Responsibility For Your Faith Today!
You don’t have to have all the answers.
but, hey, why not?
Bring me your questions about faith, life, God, the Bible… and I’ll help you find the answers.
What you’ve learned in church and Sunday school as a child is deeply true, and that changes everything. As Joshua said in Joshua 24:15, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Check out these related posts to help you transition to adulthood: