College Essay
Prompt: Please describe your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, including the moment you trusted him as your personal Lord and Savior.
Growing up in a Christian household, I don’t doubt the testimony of the Gospel. However, over the past five years or so I’ve struggled finding a distinction between knowing all the right answers in Sunday School and having a personal relationship with Christ. In my early life, this question wasn’t something I considered often, but around age 12 or so, I started to understand the differences between mainline liberal Christianity and the Evangelical faith I subscribe to now. I started questioning myself, asking whether I truly desired a personal relationship with Christ. I knew that God loved me and I wanted to follow him, so what was the issue? If I truly loved God, I reasoned, shouldn’t that love manifest itself in studying and following the Word of God more? For several years, I was torn between doing more good works and relying on faith and faith alone. While I wasn’t counting on my good works – mission trips and youth groups and the like – for my salvation, I doubted whether my faith was genuine. It wasn’t until I heard a lesson on Romans 1-3 my sophomore year that I began to realize again that I didn’t need to be a quote-un-quote “Good Christian”. The general point of the passage is that we are all saved by grace, not by following the rules and going to church every Sunday. All I needed was to come to the realization, as George Michael so eloquently put it, (albeit probably unintentionally),
Yes I’ve gotta have faith
While our late friend from Wham! may have never understood the significance of his lyrics, they have been a firm reminder in my life that whatever I may do, I know that I am atoned of my sins by the grace of God, and the grace of God alone. With this realization, I have felt freer than ever before to love God as fully as I can, and to share his love so others may experience it as well. Thanks, George Michael.
That being said, my personal relationship with Jesus is still not where I want it to be. I know that a perfect relationship will never exist on this earth, but I’m still striving for progress as much as I can. I’m hoping that by attending CCU and coming into contact with other believers daily I can be encouraged in my faith and continue to rely on grace alone for my salvation. I know that other students will likely be going through similar issues, so I hope to return the favor. My most important goal at CCU will be to form a strong fellowship with my peers, so we all may come closer to God.
Yes I’ve gotta have faith
While our late friend from Wham! may have never understood the significance of his lyrics, they have been a firm reminder in my life that whatever I may do, I know that I am atoned of my sins by the grace of God, and the grace of God alone. With this realization, I have felt freer than ever before to love God as fully as I can, and to share his love so others may experience it as well. Thanks, George Michael.
That being said, my personal relationship with Jesus is still not where I want it to be. I know that a perfect relationship will never exist on this earth, but I’m still striving for progress as much as I can. I’m hoping that by attending CCU and coming into contact with other believers daily I can be encouraged in my faith and continue to rely on grace alone for my salvation. I know that other students will likely be going through similar issues, so I hope to return the favor. My most important goal at CCU will be to form a strong fellowship with my peers, so we all may come closer to God.
Essay Revision
My revisions for this essay were quite frankly not very substantial. Previously I had gone to an outside college counselor for critique, and had therefore came into class for peer edits with a largely completed essay as far as refinement was concerned. This led to minimal suggested peer edits, and when I brought it to Lori, the only advice I received was to clarify one sentence in the last paragraph, which I did, with some reluctance. One reason for said reluctance was my pride in this essay, since I believe it accurately and succinctly portrays my thoughts in regard to my beliefs. It's very personal and as such I was reluctant to submit it for this class, but I eventually decided to based on the fact that it's still the strongest college essay I've written. The peer critique process of this essay was not a fun process for me. I realize now that this essay was only really meant for a handful of people, primarily the people inside the admissions office at Colorado Christian University, and as a result I was loth to hand it over to my peers. If I could do this project again, I would submit a different essay, one that made no mention of my religious beliefs, and instead told of my passion for sports, because it's a lot easier for people to understand. That being said, I'm overjoyed with the prospect of my essay being on full display to everyone who has treated my beliefs like garbage over the last couple years. Yay.
Colleges I'm Applying to:
Colorado Christian University
Point Loma Nazarene University
Point Loma Nazarene University