Lesson 1: Organization

Let all things be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40).

The wise prioritize, and God is pro-wisdom.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5).

The purpose of going to college is to gain wisdom.

Therefore, attending college is a naturally-occurring miracle. To be able to go to another place and grow intellectually, socially and emotionally is a wonderful blessing from God. Maximize the experience by getting your priorities in order.

A Christian’s basic college priorities break down like this:

1. Serve God.

2. Get your education.

3. Have fun.

Understanding your order of priorities enables you to make better decisions at college. Avoid sacrificing a higher priority for a lower priority. This is part of learning to be responsible and a way to exercise your increasing maturity.

Do not be like children in understanding…be mature (1 Corinthians 14:20).

Consider this example:

You have to study for a test and someone invites you to a party.

Checking your priority list, you will see that getting your education is a higher priority than having fun (don’t worry, you’ll still have plenty of chances to go out and have a good time). Therefore, the God-pleasing decision is to skip the party and study.

Here is another scenario:

You have all your homework done, but you neglected to read your Bible.

Serving God is an even higher priority than your studies. It’s admirable to be so wrapped up in your school work, but don’t forget to schedule time for studying God’s word, as well. To be wise, first fear the Lord (Psalm 111:10). God is the One who gave you the chance to attend college in the first place, and without His blessing all activities and endeavors are undertaken in vain (Psalm 127:1).

Aside from keeping your priorities in order, keep yourself in order. This includes everything from knowing when your tests are to keeping up with the laundry. Some students are so used to having their parents take care of their day-to-day living that they fall flat on their faces in their own attempts. Remember, in all labor there is profit (Proverbs 14:23). Money isn’t the only reward for work. Experience and skills developed from day-to-day living are also important. Meanwhile, a lazy man buries his hand in the bowl, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again (Proverbs 19:24). Does this verse not remind you of the people who sit in front of a TV with a bag of chips and become dulled by sitcoms and carbohydrates?

Now then, you don’t need to be able to bounce a quarter off your bed in military fashion after you make it each morning. Nor do you have to have every dust bunny rounded up. Furthermore, you are not required to have your day planned down to the nanosecond, but try to keep yourself and your things in order. Lack of clutter and chaos makes life easier. If you are living in a cluttered, chaotic mess, you’ll feel like a cluttered chaotic mess.

Are your clothes put away or strewn about your room?

Do you have a week’s worth of garbage piled up in front of the TV?

Are your class notes stuffed here, there and everywhere, some in books, some in your pockets and some folded into paper airplanes that are caught in the blinds?

After misplacing your student ID, did you find it mixed in with a deck of playing cards?

Is your desk a clean area for studying or is it stacked with a pile of junk that includes a dried-out slice of pizza even the ants won’t touch?

Did you even know you had ants?

Are you getting enough sleep, or are you playing video games until the wee hours of the night?

Do your socks smell?

Do you smell?

Do you know when your report on the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act is due?

Do you know what time you are meeting with your advisor?

Are you working on an assignment that is due next month when you have a project due tomorrow that you haven’t started yet?

Are you writing school assignments or are you writing texts?

If you gave the wrong answers to these question, then you’re not keeping yourself and your things in order. Fortunately, getting organized doesn’t have to hurt. Follow these simple steps and prayerfully build on them in maturing Christian fashion.

1. Get a student planner with pocket folders, dividers and a calendar, or use a smartphone app that does the same thing.

2. Get a dry-erase board for daily reminders.

3. Set aside ten minutes each day to straighten up your living space.

You’ll be surprised how big of a difference those few things make. And what’s the big deal about a few things?

His Lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things’ (Matthew 25:21).

God entrusts you with things to take care of and responsibilities to handle. He then lets you build on them for His glory. If you work to develop your skills on what you have, who knows what God will have in store for you down the line?

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20).

CLASS ATTENDANCE

Attending class is serving God. Attending class is getting your education. Attending class is also having fun. Since class attendance falls under each priority, its importance is obvious.

How is class attendance serving God?

You make use of His blessings and attempt to reap their benefits. This, He invites you to do. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

Teachers are also a blessing from God. He put them there so you can learn from their knowledge and experience. In a sense, they are your employers at college. They give you guidance and jobs and deserve your attention and respect.

Young people, submit yourselves to your elders (1 Peter 5:5). Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyestrain, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord (Ephesians 6:5-8).

What good comes from listening to your teachers?

If you learn their lessons, you get your degree. If you get your degree, you have your education. If you get your education, you, hopefully, have your career.

Furthermore, class attendance serves God with good stewardship (see Lesson Four). Not only does skipping class hurt you intellectually, it hurts you financially.

Suppose you take twelve credits of class per week, which costs $3,000 in tuition.

Twelve classes a week for fifteen weeks is one hundred eighty classes.

That means every time you skip class you throw away $16.

That figure quickly adds up. It also doesn’t consider the cost of textbooks or the time you spend getting back up to speed. So if you consider skipping class to sleep in, ask yourself, is this extra hour of sleep worth $16?

Finally, class attendance holds the promise of fun. Through class, you meet people who could eventually become friends (See Lesson Seven).

TIME MANAGEMENT

Before you can take classes, you have to sign up for classes. Try to balance your schedule with a mixture of hard classes and easier classes. College can get hectic at times. One week you might have to read eight hundred pages, write a paper and take a test or two. Taking challenging courses like Prodigy Astrophysics and Chemistry 6000 at the same time could lead to a frazzled state of mind. Plus, you only have so many hours in a week. Learn how to use them to the fullest.

Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but a vapor (Psalm 39:4-5).

Time management will help you measure your days. Learn to plan when it comes to your school work. Most professors give you a class roadmap at the beginning of the semester called a syllabus. The syllabus tells you when papers are due, the deadlines of projects, when tests will be given and what will be studied when. Combine this with your day planner. This way, you will not be taken by surprise.

In addition, don’t forget your priorities. You have one hundred and sixty-eight hours in a week (fifty-six of which are supposed to go toward sleeping). If one hundred hours go to having fun, your priorities are out of balance. For the first time, you may find you can’t do everything you want to do while at college. Maybe you were heavily into sports and physical fitness in high school, and now you don’t have time to spend three hours a day at the gym. Sacrifice is part of prioritizing. Learn to differentiate between what you need to do and what you want to do and find a comfortable medium between them. Doing what you need to do creates satisfaction and builds character. Doing what you want to do creates happiness and fulfillment.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16).

Another way to make wise use of your time is to make wise use of your resources. If you have to go from the United States to Europe, do you swim? No, you take a plane or a ship. Likewise, a college offers many resources to students to make their lives easier. Since you are paying tuition, use them. For example, most teachers have office hours, yet few students stop to see them. Check in with your teachers as necessary to ask questions and make sure you are on the right track. In addition, use your academic advisors. Make sure you are taking the proper classes at the proper time and know which classes to take in the future. Tutors are also available to students if they need extra help. Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety (Proverbs 11:14).

Finally, the cliché is true — time flies, so cherish every moment. You are eighteen years old. If the average life expectancy is seventy-two (God willing), then you’ve lived twenty-five percent of your life already. Ponder how fast that went by…

GOALS

Studies show that people with goals accomplish ten to one hundred times more than people without goals. Goals give you a purpose, and purpose makes life more fulfilling. A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul (Proverbs 13:19).

People should try to have short-term goals and long-term goals. If you only have long-term goals, you might burn out before you reach them. If you only have short-term goals, you are running in place instead of making progress. If a long-term goal is a river to cross, then short-term goals are the stepping stones used to get to the other side.

It is also helpful for goals to fulfill a purpose. Understand why you are doing something. What are you trying to achieve — in Christ — along with your goals?

A degree could be a long-term goal. A good grade on a test could be a short-term goal. Both allow you to glorify God by making the most of His blessings.

Building good relationships could be a long-term goal. Meeting new people could be a short-term goal. Both glorify God because you are letting your light shine to others.

Trying to avoid too much stress could be a long-term goal. Treating yourself to a movie after a day of studying could be a short-term goal. Both glorify God because you are taking care of your well-being and enjoying blessings He provides.

Goals should also be something you want to do and something that make use of your gifts and interests. The more you want to do something, the more you are motivated. Fulfill a desire, but fulfill it through Christ. Building on Christ helps you keep your focus. Sometimes greed or selfishness can drive us in our pursuit of goals. Other times, we may falter when we see how far we have to go. But if we proceed in Christ, we can maintain a purer purpose and find the strength to continue when the going gets tough.

In addition, look to Jesus Himself for motivation — the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).

Christ had a goal — His desire to save us from our sins. His love for us and His love for His Father kept Him going in the face of ultimate anguish.

Once you decide on your goals, try to develop a step-by-step plan to achieve them. If you look at the minute hand on a clock, you’ll barely see it move. Look back in an hour, however, and you can see the path it took. Likewise, progress doesn’t always happen overnight. You can’t turn an ocean liner around on a dime, but if you have a chart, you can map the change of direction. Combined with Bible study and prayer, a step-by-step plan for your goals allows you to perhaps see God’s hand in your work. It may also allow you to see God steering you away from certain goals and into new directions. Then you have to make a decision on whether or not to continue, which we will discuss in Lesson Eight.

Finally, be specific and practical in your goal setting. Suppose your goal is to grow closer to God. While that’s an admirable goal, it’s vague.

A more precise goal would be to read the Bible each morning, pray over what you learned and ask Christ to help you incorporate it throughout the day.

HOMEWORK

1. Go buy a day-planner and dry-erase board or download a similar app. Pray throughout the trip to make God a part of the process. Find the best bargain as a way to exercise the abilities God gave you.
2. Find out the office hours of your teachers and stop in to see them. Chat with them for a few minutes and get to know them a bit.
3. Make a time budget. Keep a record of what you do and how long you do it for a week. Realizing that each day is a gift from God, what changes will you make?
4. Make a short-term goal (two weeks) and a long term goal (two years).