A Charge and a Prayer for Our Graduates

August, 2005

by: Brodie McClain

Have you ever wondered what to write to that High School or College graduate? Here is one possibility:

There comes a time in every person’s life when they have to look God in the face and decide what they really believe. Mom &Dad can’t be there, friends can’t be there, the youth pastor can’t be there. It is only you and God.

For some it is a wonderful, warm, exciting meeting with their Savior. They turn their eyes to the horizon of life and set their faces like flint to press on toward the goal of the upward prize in Christ Jesus. These are the Radical. These are the Humble. These are the lovers of God and man. These are the ones who will carry the message of the kingdom to the ends of the earth. These are the kingdom citizens.

For others it is a hollow, awkward, shallow meeting with their Judge. They see the cost of standing up for God in this world and they cower in fear at the thought of being labeled a citizen in Christ’s kingdom. These are the hypocrites. These are the proud. These are the lovers of comfort and self. These are the ones who will carry the burden of their sin into the scorching depths of hell.

Which are you? You are at the precipice of real life, real decisions, real responsibility, real burdens. Which are you? God longs to love you but not cheaply, it will cost your comfort, your worldly reputation, your life even. But the pay off is sweet. The only catch is you may not receive too much of it in this life. Which are you? Will you take up your cross and follow Christ into a life of God-glorifying radical Gospel-proclaiming, people-loving commitment or will you bow to the god of this world and spend your short life running after vain pleasures which empty the soul into the pit? Which are you?

Let that question haunt you and drive you to your knees and run you headlong into God’s Word for its answer. And don’t come up until you know. Don’t take one step into real life until you know. Beg Him for the answer. And I will beg Him too, on your behalf.