(Editors’ note: My son, Jake Robinson, graduates high school on May 22. He is the youngest of our four children and is the final Robinson child to bid farewell to high school and begin the tricky launch into adulthood. Following is my letter to him, and by extension all brand-new high school or college graduates. If I could channel Marty McFly and return to June 1985, and my own high school graduation, these are a few of the things I would say to that young man.)
__________
Dear Jake,
A little more than 24 hours from my writing this, you will cross an important life threshold that signals the fast-approaching train called adulthood.
If I could turn back time to my graduating year but remain equipped with all I’ve learned in 41 years of living since, here are a few things I’d say to that immature fellow. Keep in mind: I didn’t know these things back then because I couldn’t possibly have known them; I’d not lived life long enough to accumulate God’s wisdom through long study of and reflection on His Word and had no meaningful life experience. I was a rookie then, as you are now, but I am no more.
Know why God put you here.
Jake Robinson
Over the years, we’ve burned into your brain the answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. We’ve done that for a reason. Q: What is the chief end of man? A: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
God made you for a reason. The catechism summarizes what Scripture gives as to the purpose for which God made you: for His own glory. Let this shape everything you do.
Keep in view Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So then, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all things to the glory of God.” Write this beautiful command over the door of your heart. When I was in my late 20s, John Piper wrote a book that had a massive impact on me, Don’t Waste Your Life (I gave you a copy to read, remember?). If you seek to live all of life in fidelity to this Corinthians verse, you won’t waste your life.
Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, sampled all the things — both mundane and sinful — this world has to offer, but nothing earthly satisfied his soul. After years of dabbling in wealth, work, even the rock star life, he concluded that we will lose it all, so the chief end of man is to “Fear God and keep his commandments” (Eccles. 12:13b). Only the Godward life will satisfy. Nothing this world reveres and wars to own will do that.
Take the long view because life is long.
I’ve taught you to love the game of baseball. And you know one of the things I love about big league baseball is that each season rewards the ball club that perseveres in reasonable competence over the long haul. Here’s what I mean: Professional baseball is a daily grind. So is life. Every team will win 60 games and lose 60 games. It’s what’s done with the remaining 42 games (remember, MLB teams play 162 games) that determines whether they win the World Series or go home to face a lonely winter.
Life in a fallen world is similar: Some days you will win, and many days you’ll lose. You will have to learn to manage both victory and defeat in a way that keeps your equilibrium as a man in this world and in a manner that honors your Lord. Whatever path you wind up following in terms of making a living, you won’t succeed overnight. Take joy in the grind of taking baby steps toward your goal, knowing that a week or a month or even a year of those baby steps may not get you all that far. But keep walking, trusting the Lord, for 5, 10, 15 years, and you may reach an amazing destination. You got there with a million small beginnings.
Your walk with the Lord will be the same. Hebrews 11, the great hall of faith, demonstrates this truth powerfully. Those people trusted the Lord for decades, walking faithfully each day for many years — killing sin, learning to resist the world, the flesh and the devil, and trusting God through many dangers, toils, and snares. Your life won’t be made in a day. You could ruin it in a day with one catastrophic decision, but “making it” requires perseverance in the daily grind. Learn to enjoy it as you make progress toward the Celestial City.
Live out your journey with the destination in view because life is short.
As James 4 tells us, relative to eternity, life is short (James 4:14). You’ll find that to be all too true, especially after a few decades of your life tick away. I’m nearly 60 years old and every time I hear the Dire Straits hit from my senior year, “Money for Nothing,” 1985 feels like yesterday.
Life is a vapor and eternity is forever. God has designed this life to be a dress rehearsal for eternal life, so live every day with that in view (Col. 3:2). Be grateful for every day He gives you here, but don’t live as if this life is all that exists — that is practical atheism, which is contrary to Scripture.
Be killing sin or it will kill you. Daily.
I’m taking these words from a well-known old Puritan divine. Paul puts it concisely and powerfully: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13). Be daily in the Word. Pray without ceasing. Stay intimately involved in a solid local church. Marry a godly woman who will assist you greatly in your ongoing war with sin.
Be defined by your relationship with Christ, not perceived success or failure in life.
If the Lord tarries, you’ll have many days that are filled with sunshine and many that bring storms. Suffering is part of this fallen world, and God allows us to experience it for our good and His glory. Suffering is God’s academy where we learn to depend entirely on Him. Look at the story of Joseph in Genesis and how the Lord turned the sinful machinations of his brothers into salvation for God’s people (Gen. 50:20).
All this to say that wherever the Lord takes you in life and whatever He gifts and calls you to do should not be that which defines your identity. The ground beneath you in this broken world will always be shaking, but Christ is the one place you can plant your feet that will not move. The only thing that stays the same in our world is that everything changes. There are very few certainties in life. Knowing this, your identity must be in Him and your daily relationship with Him who never changes (Heb. 13:8).
Go hard on issues but easy on people.
Stand firm on God’s Word and the doctrines it teaches. Be immovable, inflexible with that. But be patient with people, always remembering that you too are created, that you too have many weaknesses, that you don’t have it all together (that’s why Jesus came!). Every family in this world is dysfunctional on some level. As Calvin put it, we are broken actors on a broken stage.
Love to God and love to neighbor have a reciprocal relationship; one is the proving ground for the other. God is patient with you and His grace has set you free to be patient with those around you. They will annoy you. But bear in mind that you probably annoy them, too.
Enjoy simple things.
You love the outdoors, so enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. Enjoy baseball and college football (especially when the Dawgs win!) Saturdays in Athens. Take pleasure in beautiful sunsets, mountaintop views, walks on the beach with your wife and kids. Board games or a package in the mail. A good book. Your children’s little league games. A country song that speaks about life in the real world. Despite what some killjoy Christians would have you believe, God gives you thousands of small things to enjoy. Don’t miss them. They are the spice of life.
Conclusion
I could write volumes more because I’ve learned so much in the six decades the Lord has given me on this earth. I’ve sinned too much and have done too many foolish things and have learned far too much to recount in a brief letter, but, as Paul told the Corinthians, by the grace of God I am what I am (1 Cor. 15:10).
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus in the manner of Hebrews 12:1–2 and live in light of Charles Spurgeon’s words regarding the second coming of Christ: “Perhaps today?”