Life as a Student

Li Lin Chang

There are positive aspects to being a student - you get invited round for meals, people are generally sympathetic to your struggles with work, you have more control over how you want to spend your time, how early or how late to get out of bed, the luxury of skipping classes occasionally (not that I do it too often!) and more importantly, the temporary relief from the pressure of the "real world".

I find that as a student, I can juggle things round the last minute so as to be able to take part in a variety of different activities in school and in church.The flip side is that it is also a task in learning to manage your time, so that you do end up achieving something than nothing.

There is always something going on that you can use your time for. Personally, with the "freedom" of being a student, comes the responsibility of stewarding the time and financial resources that I have been entrusted with during the period of my studies.

As a Christian, it means that I need to submit to God, my plans and recognise that what I have comes from Him. This has an impact on how I spend my time, to what extent that I can still honour God in my studies and to serve Him.

The Christian aspect also plays a part in how we relate to our fellows students in school, when we discuss issues, how can we represent God's view on that matter, how is our witness to our friends.

What I have gained most from being a student, is the time available to learn more about God, to feed on His word and to serve Him. This is my fifth year as a student and I still find myself looking back at the end of the year regretting that I should have spent my time more wisely.

To end on a practical note, as you pray (thank you for your prayers!) for students (whether full-time, part-time, mature or young), pray not only for the studies and the exams, but that we will take hold of what the Bible and the Holy Spirit says, be good stewards of our time and learn to discipline ourselves so that we can really use this time for God.

In the last eight years of knowing the Lord, the best times I have had in terms of knowing Him better has been times when I have been a student. At the end of the day, we are all "students" in this world, learning from each experience and each mistake - thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit as our counsellor, Jesus our advocate and a God who loves us beyond description.