The Bible Speaks to You September 16, 1967 Issue

[The above is an abbreviated, postproduction text of the program released for broadcast the week of September 8-14 in the radio series, "The Bible Speaks to You." Heard internationally over approximately 1,000 stations, the weekly programs are prepared and produced by the Christian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM NO. 284 - Making the Grade in College

Announcer: In coming weeks thousands of students will begin their college careers. And thousands of others will return to the campus to resume their studies.

Facing pressure from ambitious parents, competition for entrance into graduate school, and the uncertainties of the draft, many young people wonder if they'll make the grade in college.
Questioner: I suppose there's nothing new about pressure at college. But most people agree that today it's worse than ever. Is there anything a student can do, other than simply put up with pressure?
Speaker: Yes, I think there is. The Bible demands that we look below the surface of things and get down to basic motives. And it also helps us to avoid shallow motives. But what kind of pressure are you thinking of especially?
Questioner: I guess the pressure to achieve high grades and to get into graduate school.
Speaker: What would be the purpose of high grades?
Questioner: The purpose of high grades could be translated, I guess, as parent-pleasing, avoiding the draft, and so forth. Maybe those are the shallow motives.
Speaker: Wouldn't it be a higher motive to have a sincere desire to release your full potential once you recognize that man does have unlimited capacity?
Questioner: I don't think any student could turn that down. But how do you do it?
Speaker: Let's see how King David did it. There's a wonderful quotation in the Bible where King David says (I Chron. 28:9), "Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee."

We speak of "perfect heart." This means an undivided heart, an undivided motive, if you will —a far more substantial motive than pleasing parents or beating competition for graduate school.
Questioner: What motives would you suggest in place of those we've just described as being shallow?
Speaker: Here's another chance to turn to the Bible for some guidance. We read (Deut. 10:12, 13), "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which 1 command thee this day for thy good?"