First, the way of Christ in education can begin nowhere other than Christ as the center of all things. Paul audaciously asserts in Col. 1:17 that “in [Christ] all things hold together.” Missionary Lesslie Newbigin echoed this Pauline sentiment claiming, “Christ is the clue to the whole of creation.”[1] As such, a proper perspective on learning and education seeks to connect everything to Jesus. After all, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Prov. 9:10).
While I wasn’t a stellar math or science student, my physics class in college was one of my favorites across some twenty-five years of formal education. My professor was not overt in her faith, but she clearly believed that the marvels of physics did not emerge from chance. Rather, the ways of the natural world revealed to us truth, creativity, and beauty about the Creator. I walked out of class each not only fascinated by physics, but even more in awe of God.
Second, the way of Christ in education is motivated by love for God. The Great Commandment explicitly includes loving God with our mind! This point will fall flat many who hear this as an attempt at manipulating people who don’t like to read to tolle lege. That’s not quite the case.
Rather, I want to build off the first point and draw attention to the importance of connecting all learning to Jesus. I know plenty of people who don’t enjoy school, reading, or the like. And that’s ok. But I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy learning.
Some love learning the latest football stats or political forecast. Others nerd out on hours of YouTube content about homesteading, pond-building, or fly fishing. Whatever the interest, learning is part of the process, a God-designed capacity for growing in our understanding of the world He has made. Part of loving God with our mind is connecting these interests and the learning back to Jesus.
For example, isn’t it remarkable that God would give us bodies to enjoy such a beautiful world? That He would create potential in the world to grow food, breed animals, and build in supply chains that sustain billions of people. That we could continue to perfect processes of building beautiful buildings, providing clean water around the world, or refining barbecue recipes for future generations to enjoy. Isn’t it amazing that God designed enjoyment as part of our experience in life? He could have built a world that is black and white, tasteless, emotionless, bland, and merely functional. But He didn’t. His world is teeming with life, taste, color, texture, opportunity, excitement, fun, and pleasure — and He has given it to us!
As we walk through life, part of the Christian responsibility is to connect all things back to Jesus—regardless the subject, hobby, or activity—and promote what is good, true, and beautiful in all these areas. As we do this, we bring to life our Lord’s prayer, “Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Third, learning is not relegated to the grade-school and college years. Learning is a forever way of life—even into eternity! Jonathan Edwards imagined that in the new heavens and earth, God’s people will never stop learning about God and His ways.[2] Even eternity is not enough time to exhaust all there is to learn about our God.
What a shame, then, if we become a kind of people who have nothing else to learn. We know this type — the “too cool for school” type (even well past teenage years) who never learns anything knew. They already know everything, and they love to one-up the conversation with a better story or another bit of information.
Others are less obnoxious in their close-mindedness, but no less stubborn. The “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” attitude is dangerous, dumb, and dishonoring to the Lord who invites us to know Him! Can you imagine someone refusing an invitation from fill-in-the-blank-hero-or-celebrity to come and spend time with them — To get to know them, their story, their personality, their way in the world? Yet when we refuse to remain curious about God, His world, His ways in the world, and our place in His world, we decline the most generous invitation ever given.
So, in humility, stay curious. The older I get, the more I marvel at older men and women who are still hungry about life. Hungry for the next Bible study or prayer meeting, hungry to learn how to grow watermelons for the first time, hungry to learn how to play the piano, hungry to learn what young people are facing these days, hungry to listen to others. This is a picture of the way of Christ in education, in learning, in life.
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