Commentary

“The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16). This prophecy from Isaiah 9:2 is applied by Matthew to the beginning days of Jesus’ ministry as he began to preach about the Kingdom of God.

This morning from my office on LookoutMountain, a great light show swept across the eastern valley. We were under a cloud cover that extended east across the TennesseeValley, but the air was unusually clear and you could see the beginnings of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east – and they were bathed in the morning sun. It was a rare and spectacular view.

In Christian education, we talk a lot about light, the truth of God that illumines our path and keeps us from stumbling. Jesus declares Himself to be “the light of the world” and those who follow him “will have that light of life” (John8:12) and “fellowship with one another” (I John 1:7). How can we best walk in the light ourselves, and by God’s grace enable our children do the same?

“How shall the young direct their way? What light shall be their perfect guide?” These questions from the familiar hymn’s version of Psalm 119:9 reflect the concern of all parents for their children. How can we best train and educate our children? How do we encourage their academic, spiritual, physical, and social growth to best foster their overall development?

As a gardener readies the soil for the plants to grow, so too education prepares the hearts and lives of its students for life and service. In Christian education, faculty and staff take the cultivation of lives seriously, understanding the significance of an education. In partnership with the home and the church, Christian educators offer an education rooted in the truth and authority of God’s unchanging Word, believing that “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

Every school teaches from some philosophical perspective, cultivating the lives of young people in one direction or another, for there is always a directional battle raging between light and darkness. Moreover, students need to learn to think and live critically, understanding what they believe and why. The mission of biblical Christian education is to enable students to discover, embrace, and integrate a biblical view into all areas of life. As parents, don’t we want to do all we can to cultivate, to plant, to train, and to grow the lives of our students in ways that are consistent with a biblical worldview?

“Your Word, O Lord, will safely lead, if in its wisdom they confide.” This is the answer to the questions above in the hymn “How Shall the Young.” If this is your heart’s desire for your covenant child, then Christian schooling is God’s gift for believing parents, yet the PCA as a denomination has been reticent to support Christian schooling and to send its covenant children to their denominational college, naively believing that campus ministries like RUF are enough light for those four critical years. I believe we can do better.

“Send out your light and your truth; let then lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling” (Psalm 43:3).
_____________
Jim Drexler is Dean of Social Sciences and Master of Education Program and Education Department Chair at CovenantCollege in Lookout Moutain, Ga.