Sitting on the Liberty University Commencement stage a few weeks ago reminded me of my own graduation ceremony on that same field 34 years prior. As newlyweds in our first year of marriage, Vickey and I made the trek to Lynchburg to celebrate God’s goodness in establishing a Christ-centered university filled with faithful faculty called to Train Champions for Christ.
As an active-duty military graduate from the earliest days of what we now call Liberty University Online Programs, I was thrilled to share the experience of receiving a master’s degree with Vickey, my parents, and my sister in the stands. Commencement Day was their first time on campus, but I wanted to share that experience with them because of the sacrifices they had made to help me cross the finish line. I would complete a Liberty residential master’s degree two years later as the next step in my professional journey, but that first Liberty Commencement was unforgettable. In so many ways, that ceremony served as a starting gun for the race that followed.
As Vickey and I complete our freshman year this time around, we have enjoyed reflecting on the opportunities my Liberty education afforded us along the way. We’ve also been honored to encourage current students to make the most of the opportunities their Liberty degree will offer them down the road.
Whether you are a current student, a recent graduate, or a longtime alum, it’s now your turn to make a difference in the places God has called you — and will call you — to serve. It’s your turn to show the world the difference Jesus Christ makes in a society doing its best to run away from God. It’s your turn to demonstrate that everything the Bible says about how to flourish as a human made in God’s image is now and always has been the best way to live. It’s your turn to put your faith into action as a Champion for Christ.
In challenging this year’s graduating class, I also challenged myself to reconsider a few fundamental questions from Scripture that should order our steps between here and eternity.
For starters, we must remember that everything rises and falls on how we answer Jesus’ probing question for his closest disciples in Matthew 16:15: “Who do you say that I am?” This question is the most important question anyone must answer. To be clear, everyone must answer it, and your answer determines both your journey in this life and your destination in the next. Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God who has done all the work to save you from your sins, or are you relying on something else to do what only God can do for you? When in doubt, remember what Jesus said about Himself: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
Once your salvation has been established in Jesus Christ alone, the question of how you live moves to the head of the class. As Jesus asked His followers two millennia ago in Mark 8:36, He asks us today: What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their own soul? The world may push you to live for yourself, but the Word repeatedly tells us that you have been made to live your life for the good of others and the glory of God.
Champions for Christ live differently because they live for eternity. They are more interested in giving than getting. They are more invested in laying up for themselves treasures in heaven than treasures here on earth. They understand that their life began at conception, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof positive that their life never ends.
On a journey that will be marked by plenty of ups and downs, history’s most famous rhetorical question is always at our fingertips (Romans 8:31) and should always be on the tip of our tongue: If God is for us, who can be against us? That’s what I’m talking about. If God is for us — and He most certainly is — then no person, no group, no policy, no procedure, no condition, no trial, no trouble, absolutely nothing can be against us in any meaningful way.
Which brings us to my last question: What would you do for God if you knew you could not fail? This question has been asked on Liberty Mountain for decades, which is why Liberty University is the world’s leading Christian university in so many ways. Liberty has been built on a continual stream of Big Hairy Audacious Goals from day one. The miracle of our presence online and on campus is the direct result of faithful men and women following William Carey’s advice to “attempt great things for God and then expect great things from God.”
What works on the Mountain will work in your neck of the woods, so go and do likewise. Because that’s what Champions for Christ have been commissioned to do.
— Dondi E. Costin | President
Scenes from the Costins’ “freshman year” at Liberty
