Is it possible we’re educating our children right OUT of salvation?
It’s a scary and extremely countercultural thought but I believe there’s something to it. And if there’s any chance that even a grain of truth lies within that question, it’s something we’d better look at long and hard.
Because society over the past 200 years has evolved where we now worship at the altar of education. We serve the gods that feed us with information, curriculum, diplomas and degrees.
Which, in turn, causes us to remain bowed down before gods that feed us money.
More money.
All the money.
We stress education so much that our children grow up thinking it’s the link to true success. And that, my friends, is a lie that may just hinge them to a life of ruin.
Because success is NOT any worldly attainment. A man in a big house with a fancy car is NOT more successful than a man in a small house with a clunker. Not if the man in the small house knows and serves Jesus while the man in the big house doesn’t.
Society lies. Our culture lies. The devil lies. And we, innocently or not, perpetuate those lies.
If we push our children to read by 3, and speak multiple languages, and write poetry as poetically as Longfellow, but they don’t have the love of God that seeps into their being and transforms them from the inside out, they literally have nothing. Our work is in vain.
If we train them, through hours of repetition, to calculate with the speed and efficiency of a computer, or to solve complicated problems using high order algebraic function, but they don’t know the love of God that saves them from themselves, they have nothing to share with others. Their lives will be lived in vain.
If we spend hours and weeks and years filling the minds of our children with historical facts, and geographical landmarks, and the periodic table of elements, they’ll be very smart in many ways. If we serve them up a side of church and religion and we talk occasionally of faith and prayer, they’ll even have a bit of head knowledge about God. But if we haven’t CONNECTED them to God and shown them His character and taught them of His sacrifice and pointed them to His victory on OUR behalf, we’ve given them nothing.
We’ll have raised brilliant infidels who may even change the world ... they just won’t be changing it for Jesus.
Education isn’t what we’ve made it. Or more accurately, we’ve corrupted education until it’s been depleted of much of its value. Because we’re educating our children to assume their rightful place in a society of dream seekers and money makers.
But very few are educating these children to be God chasers.
I, myself, have done it wrong. I’ve not taken my lessons from the schools of the prophets and, as such, I’ve allowed the world to paint my view without even realizing it. And I see the world tugging HARD on the hearts of my young people.
And let me tell you, it’s very difficult to convince a person of something with your words when your actions have told them otherwise.
God is the author of redemption, however. He points out our mistakes so we can repent of them. He shows us a better way so we can tell others of it. And He promises to do all He can, within the parameters of the human will, to restore what the locusts have eaten.
If you’ve done it wrong and this culture has snagged your beloved children and is holding them within its grip, all is not lost. Repent of your wrong course and accept the forgiveness He offers. And then go out there and love them with all the love that God loves us with because it’s His love that wins us.
It’s not a setting aside of principle or a winking at sin or a compromise of conviction that wins our kids back. It’s the sweet love of Jesus filling us to overflowing that will ultimately infect them. He handles the details and He gives us the words and actions that will be most effective in reaching them.
And if your children are still young, choose the narrow way. Focus 99% of your time on showing them the face of Christ and 1% on facts that simply help them pass tests our societal rules demand. Because if they’re looking for evidences of God in nature, and storing up the treasure of Scripture in their memories, and studying the history of the great gospel commission and how it’s transformed hearts and saved lives, and learning how to spend the money they have to reach souls with the good news that so few truly grasp, you will be transferring the absolute and very best education possible to your precious children.
And God will add to them knowledge and understanding and wisdom according as they need it.
True education is miraculous and it’s also what’s going to set this world on fire when people grab ahold of it.
I’m picking up my torch, even if it’s not trendy. And I plan to get to work lighting theirs!
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