Do I Have To?

Do you ever hear this from your children? Come on, I can't be the only one that occasionally gets this reaction when the kids are called for school. It seems like I've heard it more and more as the weather has been warmer and sunnier. I understand their reluctance. I've had a bit of Spring Fever lately myself. But there is still work to be done before we take our summer break and so we need to keep plugging away. I sat down with the boys the other day and tried to get them to think about why we do school. I had them imagine what kind of people they would be if they never learned anything. Would they be the type of person that they would want to have as a friend? Would they be able to support a wife and children someday? And then I explained that "doing school" teaches us more than just necessary subjects. It teaches us about the very nature of our God. For example, our God is a God of order. This is reflected in math that we do each day. There are hard and fast, unchanging rules that govern the use of math. It is unchanging, the same yesterday, today and forever, just like our Father.

We study Language Arts so that we can read the love letter that our Lord has given us. How can we know God well if we cannot read His Word? Language Arts also helps us to fulfill the Great Commission. We become much better communicators of God's Word and of His grace when we learn how to write and to speak in front of others.

Geography helps us to understand our place in God's creation and brings an appreciation of the diversity in that creation. The Bible tells us that God has chosen people from every nation, tribe and tongue to be His own. Our brothers and sisters will come from every walk of life, every culture in the world. What a joy to learn about their countries and their culture.

Studying the fine arts gives us an appreciation for the creativity and beauty of our God. We know that every good and perfect gift comes from Him and that sometimes He even gives amazing talent to those that don't believe in Him, for the praise of His glory.

Science reflects both His perfect order and His boundless complexity and creativity. Anyone who has spent any time out of doors really looking at His creation cannot help but be amazed at all that He has given us.

When we look at education in this light, we realize that learning is an act of worship. It is sitting at the Master's feet and drinking in all that He is and all that He has given us. We then do our best, by His grace, to take what we've learned and reflect it to the world around us so that they too might have the boundless pleasure of knowing Him as we do.