Hustle While You Wait

Last week I had the chance to visit a Christian college that I am considering attending.  I had so much fun with the girls in my dorm room!  They were such an encouragement to me. It made me so excited to be in college soon, and to be like them--always edifying others and constantly looking to what God has to say instead of what the world says.  Then it hit me: I can’t be that way in college if I’m not doing what God wants me to do in high school right now.

The title above is from a chapter in I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris.  This phrase perfectly defines what we should be doing with our lives.  There are certain times in our lives when we are in one realm but we are looking into another.  It’s kind of like how seniors in high school feel; they are physically in the high school realm but mentally want to be in the college realm.  These times in our life we are the most vulnerable to Satan’s attacks.  He would like us to get off track and start giving in to what our sin nature wants.  But we should do the exact opposite; we need to hustle while we wait!

What I mean by this is  that while we are waiting for the next big step in our lives, we need to be totally focused on doing God’s will right now. That means that we need to be respecting our authority, not having bad attitudes toward our families, and constantly reading our Bibles and praying. In the small areas that you think you have under control, Satan will attack there. We also need to guard our weaknesses as they are always a target.

         

One of the major areas where Satan will try and defeat us is by using our circumstances; we need to always remember that our circumstances must never define us.  When we feel depressed or have a bad day, those are the times where we must constantly be in God’s Word. Memorizing scripture, surrounding ourselves with good, godly friends (Proverbs 13:20), and continually talking to God throughout the day are excellent ways to guard against Satan’s whispers.

You see, we can’t be ready for the next stage if we aren’t preparing for it by excelling in the stage that we are in now.  God has a high intolerance for wasted time.  Even if we are unsure about the next step in our life we still have work to do.  We need to be developing good habits, getting rid of the bad habits and building character.

It is part of our job to make the most of each moment, preparing ourselves for the next step in life.  Redeem the time! (Ephesians 5:15-17) If you are faithful in the little things today, you will be entrusted with bigger, better responsibilities down the road.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

AT (High School Junior)