Over the centuries, universities have developed into formal institutions where you are trained and equipped to live in this world from worldly perspectives. You probably have seen university mission statements indicating that they will train you to fit into the world of commerce, industry, governance and cultures as an active participant.  This mission may appear attractive, but to a reflective Christian, it raises vigilance. Tertiary education is not merely an intellectual service to you. It is a package that includes beliefs and lifestyles. Students are expected to accept the beliefs, values and, if possible, lifestyles that are implied in the tertiary curriculum. The more honest institutions are explicit about their preferred beliefs. Most are not.

Pressure from the content of university learning is subtle and tenacious. Such forms of pressure come from your  course contents, textbooks and lecturers. Your mind is at stake here. The mainstream tertiary educational system wants to see your mind framed in a particular way. By default, your lecturers shape your patterns of reasoning in ways that reflect what they believe an educated person should be. Once thus framed, it is difficult for your “educated” mind  to commit to Christian perspectives subsequently in life.

Some students adopt a defeatist attitude in the face of challenges from the content of learning. They conclude that Jesus is hardly relevant in their courses, and therefore decide that commitment to the Lord can wait till after graduation. This is a route to spiritual disaster. If you deliberately refuse to take a stand for the Lord Jesus now, you deny Him. Besides, if you don’t train yourself in the courage that is needed for the present, you may not have it in the future.

As a committed Christian, your choices and lifestyle are defined by your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Clearly, you don’t wish to be negatively influenced by prevailing non-Christian philosophies and  ideologies in the academia. You are on a mission for the Lord Jesus Christ in the university. You are in the university to be intellectually equipped to confront anti-Christian systems of knowledge, culture, economy and governance with the radical perspectives of Jesus Christ. A major part of your assignment as a Christian student is to understand how Satan uses various erroneous ideas and philosophies to prevent people from committing their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. This understanding helps you to be better equipped as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.