Trends, our world is filled with people going for whatever the trend is to fit in. This is causing us to be stuck in a double life not living as who we truly are. We are a completely different person at school than we are outside of school, doing certain things and living a certain way just to impress a group of people. This is a genuine struggle many students deal with and have been dealing with for a very long time. We are going to school doing things we really shouldn’t be doing just to fit in with that one friend group. Yet once we get home and settle into our ‘outside of school life’ zone, we start acting how we are supposed to: we wake up and go to church and serve and follow the rules of how we are supposed to live. Why is it that we are faithful and live for God and his teachings outside of school, but once we go into school we don’t represent that at all?

Reading through scripture we see Jesus speaking to the disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 NIV where he says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We see Jesus telling us to go out and spread his teachings, yet we always seem to hide our faith in school because we don’t want to be seen and labeled as “lame” or “weird.” We truly need to follow the teachings and go and be open about our faith. Sadly, even though it’s easy to say, it’s a very hard struggle to fully overcome.

To truly see the experience of this double life in our schools I looked for students to give their story. Junior, Koen Baugher wanted to share his personal experience with this struggle. Baugher said, “[S]o when I was in 9th grade I first started really getting into church and my relationship with God. But no one could’ve been able to tell because of how I acted at school and outside of the church. You would’ve never known I was saved or served. But as soon as I stepped into the church I was a different person full of faith. I struggled with this bad until my sophomore year when I changed my whole life for the good. I started living for God and serving him as a faithful servant. Now that’s all people know me as, is a Jesus following disciple.”

Baugher’s story shows that even if we are dealing with this struggle, God is always right there with us and if we choose to allow him in our heart and truly follow him then we can change for the better. Another example of this is the event that was recently held at the football field: Fields of Faith. So many students came to know Christ and already you can see the change in some of these students’ lives. Unfortunately many students who have just given their life to Christ, immediately have gone back to school living a double life. Scripture says in Romans 12:2 NIV “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Sophomore Kadence Melville wanted to share her story with this struggle and offer some motivation to keep going.

“To begin with,” Kadence says, “God is a very important part of my life, and trying to manage school and living for God can sometimes be difficult. I’ve had experiences with people making fun of me for choosing God as my Lord and Savior, bringing me down, and mocking me. But through all of that, I haven’t doubted or questioned my choice of following Jesus. Trying to focus on either school or your relationship with God can be hard but the best thing we can do is spend/make extra time to spend with God. I always want to put my main focus on Jesus and not school but the thing is school also matters right now. We have to balance the two. Pray often, read your bible daily, spread the gospel, and build Godly friendships with people you love. Your relationship with God won’t grow if you only focus on school, and your grades won’t get better if you only focus on God.

“So at this point in our lives,” Kadence continues, “we have to make time for both. Another thing we need to remember is to not get discouraged by other people to stop our walk with Christ. No matter how badly the world judges you, don’t (sic) mean that God is not good always. No matter how badly your friends stab you in the back does not mean that God is not good always. No matter how bad of a grade you got on that one test does not mean that God is not good always.

“Remain faithful to God always. DO NOT LET PEOPLE MAKE YOU QUESTION YOUR FAITH! Have faith in God that he is with you. Romans 8:31 – ‘If God is with us, who can be against us?’ Even through the tough times of battling grades and growing a relationship with God, remember that God does not want us to be stressed or worried about anything. He has a plan and we have to trust that it is the best plan for us as students.”

In conclusion, though this is a struggle many of us deal with, we are not alone. We have to work together to overcome it. We have to take those steps showing our faith and showing the love of Christ. We have to put a good community around us so we can grow alongside them. We have to uplift each other and hold each other accountable. Come out of the shadows, show the love of Christ, live out what God calls us to do.