A Day on Campus: Sabastian and His Girlfriend Idol
Ty Stevens, a UMKC junior, and I got to share our faith with five San Diego State University students a month ago on campus. The last conversation we had turned out to be the best.
When we asked Sabastian, an SDSU junior who was sitting in Starbucks, to describe his life in a few words he said: sad and lonely. He didn't go into the specifics right away but we eventually learned that his girlfriend of nine months had just broken up with him. Sabastian said that it was funny that we ran into him because he has been thinking about going to church for the first time in his life due to the hard situation he's in right now. Since he was ready and willing to hear the gospel, we took the opportunity to apply the gospel to his situation.
I shared Romans 1:25 with him which says that all of us have turned from worshiping the true God and have instead worshiped the things God's given us in creation. In Sabastian's case (and hey, I've been there too) the object of worship was his girlfriend.
Making a girlfriend a “god” creates problems.
First, by making his girlfriend a god he was putting unrealistic expectations on her that only God Himself can meet. This is part of the reason why his girlfriend broke up with him.
Second, since all his time and energy went toward making sacrifices for his girlfriend, he sacrificed all of his guy friends in the process. So now that Sabastian's “god” girlfriend has rejected him, he has no friends to help him through his loneliness – since pursuing his girlfriend isolated him from other relationships.
I reminded him that God is the only one who, if you seek Him and worship Him alone, will never fail you. Sabastian said that all of this made a lot of sense and that he wants to continue learning about the bible. He is going to join us for bible study next week.
We were really excited and thankful to God for connecting us with Sabastian today – who was so open, honest, and humble due to his circumstance. I think he is close to following Christ.
The conversation today reminded me that students seem to be the most receptive to the gospel when the “gods” they are pursuing fail them - when they realize that they need something else, something stronger, to both save them from their brokenness and fulfill their deepest longings.
When we asked Sabastian, an SDSU junior who was sitting in Starbucks, to describe his life in a few words he said: sad and lonely. He didn't go into the specifics right away but we eventually learned that his girlfriend of nine months had just broken up with him. Sabastian said that it was funny that we ran into him because he has been thinking about going to church for the first time in his life due to the hard situation he's in right now. Since he was ready and willing to hear the gospel, we took the opportunity to apply the gospel to his situation.
I shared Romans 1:25 with him which says that all of us have turned from worshiping the true God and have instead worshiped the things God's given us in creation. In Sabastian's case (and hey, I've been there too) the object of worship was his girlfriend.
Making a girlfriend a “god” creates problems.
First, by making his girlfriend a god he was putting unrealistic expectations on her that only God Himself can meet. This is part of the reason why his girlfriend broke up with him.
Second, since all his time and energy went toward making sacrifices for his girlfriend, he sacrificed all of his guy friends in the process. So now that Sabastian's “god” girlfriend has rejected him, he has no friends to help him through his loneliness – since pursuing his girlfriend isolated him from other relationships.
I reminded him that God is the only one who, if you seek Him and worship Him alone, will never fail you. Sabastian said that all of this made a lot of sense and that he wants to continue learning about the bible. He is going to join us for bible study next week.
We were really excited and thankful to God for connecting us with Sabastian today – who was so open, honest, and humble due to his circumstance. I think he is close to following Christ.
The conversation today reminded me that students seem to be the most receptive to the gospel when the “gods” they are pursuing fail them - when they realize that they need something else, something stronger, to both save them from their brokenness and fulfill their deepest longings.
Labels: broken, Christian, girlfriend, God, idol, Jesus, relationships, students
posted by Tyler Zach at 9:22 PM
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