Putting God first in exam times
Exam times bring a special level of stress to most people who go through them. The better students push themselves, driven by a desire to get into the course they want or to achieve a score they have in mind. Struggling students can be driven by fear they won’t pass. Everyone feels the pressure of a semester’s work coming down to your performance in an assessment that only takes a couple of hours.
There is an extra level of stress for some students. International students often pay very high fees and don’t want their family’s money to go to waste. People from some cultural backgrounds that place a very high premium on academic results feel they need to do well to honour their parents.
If you ask any pastor of a church or Christian university group leader what they notice during exam periods, they will all tell you the same thing. People no longer turn up to church or youth groups or Christian union meetings. Numbers drop off dramatically. Apologies are passed on: “sorry, I can’t possibly come, I’m studying for exams”. For many this seems like a very reasonable excuse. After all, church and Bible study can be done anytime, while the exams are only for a few weeks.
Is this excuse reasonable? I see a real danger in dropping Christian commitments to focus on study. It can reflect what is really the most important to us when the pressure is on.
Sure, logically, missing a week or two or church or youth group doesn’t seem like much. And we are saved by grace, not attending church or other Christian events. Yet we are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. There is no asterix under that call for single minded-discipleship that says we get a pass when life is busy or exams are on. Putting God to the side when other things seem more pressing is a dangerous precedent.
Parents, if you consistently tell your children that they can miss church and other Christian events when exams are close, what are you really teaching them? It it this: when life is busy and you have a choice to make, academic success or career success take priority. If this becomes a regular pattern, we should not be surprised when our children later choose part-time work over church or personal recreation over church. It is a pattern of priorities we will have helped create in their minds.
Christian students, think about what drives you so much in the exam period. Is it selfish ambition or fear? Whatever it is, this is a time that you especially need a bigger perspective. You need to be reminded life is more than clothes and money, as Jesus taught his disciples. You need to remember God is in control whatever the exam results are. And church and youth group are the perfect places to remember these things.
God instructed his people in the Old Testament to keep a Sabbath, one day off to focus on God. That was a constant, regardless of the busyness of the year. Farmers needed to observe it at harvest time and those who balanced books at the end of the year. Whatever your views on the Sabbath today, we could learn a lot from that principle. We should remember God regularly and often. We should prioritise spending time with God’s people in prayer and worship.
Don’t confuse your exams with the most important thing in your life. They are not.