© 2011 Vicki Lewis
In Part 2, we talked about three principles of biblical education that should be prayerfully lived out. Let’s consider how we can begin accomplishing this important task. I would like to suggest starting with God’s wise plan listed in 2 Peter 1:5-8, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Faith is the first building block in a Christ-centered education. As Christian parents we are to diligently pray for, share by our example, and specifically teach that our children need to come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior as young as the Holy Spirit moves in their spirits. From the time of their salvation on then, our home school becomes a place where we disciple our children in the Christian faith. It is not necessary to search far away for those who need to see and hear the reality of our faith on a daily basis. We do not need to ask the Lord to give us a mission field. If He has blessed us with children, then we already have our disciples and our primary mission field!
Goodness is the second building block. This same word is translated as virtue, moral excellence, or character. One of God’s goals for us is to be conformed to the image of Jesus, and our home school should be a place where godly character is emphasized, encouraged, and taught. We pray that the Holy Spirit will produce His fruit in our lives causing us to be the godly examples of Jesus that our children need to see. We also pray to cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s working in each of our children’s lives.
Firmly in third place, comes knowledge. This refers to all the academic facts we want our children to be able to handle with ease: multiplication facts and historical events and state capitals.
Each day, if I know that we have spent time growing in our faith, I feel that we have accomplished the most important task before the Lord. Then, if we have time to focus on character building, we have tackled the second most important use of our time. Hopefully, after these two, there is time for workbook blanks, reading books, and other school matters.
Conventional schools do not consider anything related to faith to be part of their job. The training of character is occasionally taught, but it is never built on the foundation of faith. It is great to teach our children to be truthful or patient or not to bully others. But without faith undergirding those qualities, the character is being built upon a foundation of sand. Our Christian children need to realize that we are to be truthful, not because it is merely a good idea, but because the God we serve is true Truth. We are to be long-suffering with other people because we serve a God who is, by nature, perfectly patient. Our children are not to lord it over others, not because this will make them unpopular with others, but because God Himself is a perfect gentleman and never forces His way into anyone’s life. We must be diligent to connect all the dots between faith and character so that our children know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that godly character springs from a solid and living faith.
If we, as parents, seek knowledge for its own sake and permit our children to do so, then we are all serving the idol of Education. Knowledge without godly wisdom is like a jigsaw puzzle with no box lid to use as a guide for assembly. All the facts in the world will do no good, if they cannot be applied in such a way as to please God and demonstrate His kind of wisdom.