In the World but Not of the World

How can you shine a brighter light to your friends, teachers and professors? Going to college and being a Christian are not mutually exclusive

I know it is hard to be a Christian in the world today, striving to live by the awesome standards and instructions God has given us. I also know how hard it is to live in the world, especially in college, and follow God with my whole heart. It is a constant struggle to be true to God's ways and not consumed by the world. I find it especially challenging when it comes to explaining why I keep the Holy Days or the Sabbath to my friends and professors.

In thinking about this, I came up with an analogy that I think most students, as well as other people, would relate to. As a student, I have to follow the rules of my professors in my classes because they are authority figures (they give me my grades!). So when teachers or professors give instructions for an assignment, they don't allow their students to complete different assignments or change the due date. 

Don't try to change God's plan

In the same way, when God presented His Holy Days (Leviticus 23) outlining His miraculous plan for all of us to understand and follow throughout our generations (Leviticus 23:14And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
See All..., 21, 31, 43), He did not want us to add to or take away from His wonderful instructions (Revelation 22:18-19 [18] For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
[19] And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

See All...).

We aren't to change the days He gave. God didn't intend for the weekly Sabbath to be changed from its original observance on Saturday to Sunday or for humans to adopt or add pagan elements to our worship. But just look at how the world uses pagan customs to celebrate Christmas as Jesus' birth or Easter as His resurrection, instead of celebrating Passover to symbolize His death and sacrifice as the Bible instructs.

If God wanted us to keep these worldly holidays and worship Him in this way, He would have told us to do that from the beginning when He commanded the Holy Days in the Bible. But He didn't! In fact, the law God presented (including His Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17 [1] And God spake all these words, saying,
[2] I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
[3] Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
[4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
[5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
[6] And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
[7] Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
[8] Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
[9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
[10] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
[11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
[12] Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
[13] Thou shalt not kill.
[14] Thou shalt not commit adultery.
[15] Thou shalt not steal.
[16] Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
[17] Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

See All..., Holy Days in Leviticus 23:1-44 [1] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
[2] Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
[3] Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
[4] These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
[5] In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's passover.
[6] And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
[7] In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
[8] But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
[9] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
[10] Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
[11] And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
[12] And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
[13] And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.
[14] And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
[15] And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
[16] Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
[17] Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.
[18] And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.
[19] Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
[20] And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
[21] And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
[22] And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
[23] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
[24] Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
[25] Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
[26] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
[27] Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
[28] And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
[29] For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
[30] And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
[31] Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
[32] It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
[33] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
[34] Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
[35] On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
[36] Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
[37] These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:
[38] Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.
[39] Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
[40] And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
[41] And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
[42] Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
[43] That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
[44] And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

See All... and other laws and doctrines) is so important and means so much to Him, as it should to all of us, that God sacrificed His own Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for our sins—for breaking those laws.

If God's law and His Holy Days could be altered, changed or even deleted from our religious practices, why would Jesus have had to die for humans who transgressed an imperfect or changeable law? The main point is that He wouldn't and didn't. Christ came to earth as a human to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
See All... ), not to change or do away with it like much of the world has done today.

So as we observe the annual Holy Days and the weekly Sabbaths that God has created as gifts for us and as constant reminders of His gracious and loving plan for all mankind, we should always think about our attitude in worshipping Him. We should examine whether or not our actions reflect the plan and promise God has set up for us—to receive eternal life in His everlasting Kingdom at the return of His Son Jesus Christ to this earth (Matthew 3:2And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
See All...; 6:33; Galatians 5:16-23 [16] This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
[17] For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
[18] But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
[19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
[20] Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
[21] Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
[23] Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

See All...; Hebrews 12:28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
See All...).

Avoid frustration

So don't become frustrated with the ways of this world when everyone and everything seems to be against you. God knew it would be this way and told us that the world would hate us and be against us because we are different (John 15:18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
See All... ). Think of how the world hated Jesus when He was on earth, yet Jesus told us that He had "overcome the world" (John 16:33These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
See All... ).

We should follow His example and not love the ways of the world (1 John 2:15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
See All... -17) or try to become part of it. Instead, we allow our minds to be "transformed" (Romans 12:2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
See All...) as we follow God and Jesus. Remember that we are not alone in our trials because we always have God and each other to lean on for strength and encouragement. With this help, we can rise above the wrong ways we see in the world and persevere (Matthew 19:26But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
See All...; Philippians 4:13 ).

Remember that God will not give us something He knows we cannot handle (1 Corinthians 10:13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
See All... ), and we always have the wonderful opportunity to learn from the trials we are handed. When we persevere, we become stronger lights to the world as Christians (Matthew 5:14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
See All... ). At the return of Jesus Christ, we can be rewarded for following God's ways and laws (Matthew 16:27For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
See All... ).

This is the hope that I hold as I live my daily life striving with God's help to become a better person and Christian.  I also hope my classroom analogy helps you strengthen your own bond to God's ways and His wonderful plan that He has symbolically revealed to us through His Holy Days.

For additional information on the Sabbath and Holy Days, read or request your free copies of the Sunset to Sunset—God's Sabbath Rest , God's Holy Day Plan and Holidays or Holy Days at www.ucg.org/booklets . VT