The Real Education

"Remember, the Word of God prepares us for every good work-

the periodic table won't help a bit"

I really love this quote by R.C. Sproul Jr. from his book, "When You Rise Up". It has reminded me again, or shall I say "convicted" me again, of where my focus really needs to be in educating my children.

You can feel the excitement in the air this time of year, whether your children compute their math at your dining room table or amongst 20 other desks in a tidy schoolroom. Brand new backpacks, pencils with erasers still intact, notebooks that have yet to be dog-eared and softened by use. Garage doors opening in unison at approximately 8:23am. A certain chill in the mornings tells us that its school time.

But what's it all about? We get excited to crack open the new textbook, or try out the new science curriculum, or meet the new teacher. Our hearts race just a bit as we introduce the new letter for the day or listen to our child recant the poem they learned or watch them do long division for the first time.

Kevin Swanson (http://www.generationswithvision.com/) says that if our children know Saxon Math better than they do Proverbs, they are not being properly educated. Ouch! He's so very right, though! Regardless of where our children receive their education, discipling our children MUST be our very top priority, above all other things! Voddie Baucham (http://www.voddiebaucham.org/vbm/home.html), a pastor whom we have learned much from, and respect greatly, made one of the most convicting statements I have ever heard regarding my goal as a parent. He says that he is not preparing his children for college. He's preparing them for Eternity!

In educating our children, we cannot be short-sighted. We cannot forget that a high school diploma and a college education are not the goal. They aren't! If that's what we're striving for in our hearts, with our time and with our pocket books, we are failing our children and the God who entrusted them to us. Even in their education, we must be so careful to not get wrapped around the axle storing up treasures that moth and rust (or a down turn of the economy) can destroy at the expense of storing up eternal treasures that are INDESTRUCTIBLE (Matt. 6:19).