The state of colleges and universities today is pretty grim. Picketing. Disturbances. Violent confrontations.
I remember when the clash of ideologies was in the classroom and everyone left having learned something.
Some of the problem is in the ideologies, but the biggest problem is the hearts of the people with the ideologies.
Now, we can talk about the crazy ideas popping up on campuses all over if you want. Everything from skewed social justice to bad theology, lack of understanding of the real issues and even the refusal to use logic, which happens a lot these days. These are all serious, and are serious problems, but they’ll never be solved until the people with these serious problems change.
I see students being so offended by the tiniest things. I see attitudes and arrogance and this crazy notion that 21 year olds all of the sudden know it all. I remember when I was 21. I thought I knew it all too, I guess, but now I see how ignorant I really was. If I only knew then…
Truth is, the real problem lies in the hearts of these entitlement-heavy kids today. They think they deserve your ear and attention. They think their ideas are better and more correct than anyone else’s. It is crazy, isn’t it?
But can you blame them?
This is a generation who has been so heavily babied and reinforced that their ideas matter and are better that they can’t function in an environment where there is opposition. It is unconscionable to think that someone would tell them they are wrong. They’ve been trained to know that they are always right!
That is why I believe the offended college student of today is the participation trophy recipient of yesterday.
These kids have grown up in a world where “no” was not a word and that every idea they had was a gift from heaven. They’ve been so reinforced that bad habits and bad ideology has made a home in them. I believe whole-heartedly in nurturing and encouraging, but I also believe that the lack of opposition and discipline produces an entitled, arrogant person.
Losing was one of the best things that could have happened to me in baseball. The words, “You didn’t make it,” were the fuel in my furnace for the next year. I didn’t need a trophy to validate my contribution. And while spankings and groundings hurt, I needed them.
Parents, this may be a hard lesson, but one of the best things your kids can hear is “no.” Losing can be one of their greatest victories. Heartache can be one of their defining moments.
No one is saying ride around the town with your toddler out of his carseat, but be willing to take some of the guards down. Let them experience opposition. Let them discover defeat. Let them feel what “no” feels like. Don’t let them wallow in it, but these things go a long way in creating a well balanced, humble person.
Of course, the blame isn’t just on mom and dad. Students need to grow up, and while they’re at it, to grow a backbone. This isn’t a harsh command, it is an encouragement, and one day they’ll realize, just like I did, how kind and loving these lessons really are.
Students, you are loved by God, but you are not all-knowing. You are precious to him, but you are not always right. You have to learn the value of tribulation in order to get where God is wanting to take you. Remember, trials are only bad if you don’t learn from them.
James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Tesla and Edison needed each other. Colt and Smith/Wesson needed each other. Jobs and Gates needed each other. Opposition and trials aren’t meant to offend you, they’re meant to grow you.
I see a huge problem in students today. Obviously not all, but many. A lack of opposition and discipline has created entitlement, and entitlement has produced an abundance of pride. Isn’t that really the issue? Isn’t that really at the heart of all of this? People full of pride?
There’s only one thing that is the anti-pride and that’s humility. And there’s only one place to get humility: the Holy Spirit.
By the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, let’s crush pride. Let’s train up our children in the way they should go. Let’s grow up and refuse to be offended.There are some people, many in fact, who are looking to be offended. If you’re looking for offense you’ll find it, and if you can’t find it, you will make up a reason. That is not the life God wants us to live.
Not every college student is a whining, offendable person. Not every parent is guilty of over-inflating the egos of their children. But we live in a world that is full of offense and pride. What are we doing to counteract that? What are we doing to address the issue? God has given us the clear answer: salvation through Jesus Christ and the overcoming power of the Holy Spirit.
As corny as it may be, Jesus really is the answer, and the sooner we get God back into the equation, the sooner we’ll see a change. But it starts in the home, long before they leave for university. It is in the way we raise our kids. It is in the way we teach them to process opposition. It isn’t moving to an isolated corner of the world, but teaching them how to insulate themselves from the muck and the mire and the offense that is so eagerly after them.
Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Things can change. But it will take a change in heart and mind. That only comes through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Be blessed,
J