There has been a series of TV commercials running for several years entitled “The More You Know.” It tries to impress upon parents and young people the importance of education. It suggests that with enough education we can overcome all problems. The solution to the drug problem is education. The solution to teen pregnancy is education. The solution to child abuse and to the rise in suicide is education. Yet after years of intensive education the problems are not only not going away, but they are still increasing.
The trouble is, the world is trying to solve its problems with the wrong type of education. Educating kids about the dangers of drugs may have some value, but it doesn’t effectively prevent them from using drugs. These problems are really only symptoms of a greater, underlying problem–man’s separation from God due to sin. No education from the world can solve that.
There is only one type of education that will really help–Christian education.
In His high-priestly prayer Jesus said: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (Jn. 17:3). That is real education–learning to know the only true God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Such education is from the Holy Spirit who gives the knowledge about God which goes beyond the mind and into the heart to create and strengthen faith.
Reading, writing, and arithmetic are very good to know and help in many areas of life in this world. But you can make it through life without knowing those things. You cannot, however, make it through life as a child of God without knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
Jesus came to solve all our problems, beginning with the greatest of all. It is in “knowing” Jesus by faith that we are saved from sin and death and reconciled to God. “The More You Know,” the more Jesus will enable you to overcome all these other problems as well. The more you know about God–His holiness and glory, as well as His grace and mercy–the more you will live as His children in joyful thanksgiving.
Most importantly, the more you know God, the stronger you will be to stand against all; the perversions and false wisdom of the world. Christian education is what we need to make it in this world.
Just what do we mean by Christian education? Perhaps the first thing you think about is a Christian Day School. Christian Day Schools are certainly a tremendous blessing for our children and for our congregations. It would be wonderful if every one of our churches had a day school.
As we have said, Christian education is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. It is education in the Word of God. Christian education begins in the home with parents reading Bible stories to their children and teaching them God’s Word. It is leading and guiding children to apply God’s Word to every area of life. Christian education is also done when parents give their children an example of a God-centered life.
If parents have a Day School for their children, they are not relieved of their responsibility for the Christian education of their children. If the parents don’t have a Day School, it will require even more effort by the parents to provide a Christian education for their children. Especially if their children attend a public school, parents will need to teach God’s Word and show how it differs from much of what the children are learning in school (ethics, morality, truth).
Christian education does not end with school. All our life we must continue to “grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” If our Christian education stops, then we become more susceptible to the wiles of the devil and the deceptions of the world.
“The More You Know,” the better prepared you will be to face the world and to hold on to the faith. Let’s never stop learning.
–Pastor David Reim