Come and Drink

This is the season of graduations! You probably have someone graduating in your family and we have had many graduations in our extended family in the US, in Canada, in Ecuador and in Spain! It is a joy to celebrate these accomplishments, especially when we look back at how each one has grown in many ways. But it also makes us wonder what God has next for them and where they will invest their life and the blessings God has given them. What is worth our time and energy? What are the goals, desires and commitments that drive us and motivate us? How will we be successful and how do we even define success?

These are the questions that set the course of our life and either provide a stable foundation or an endless search for identity and purpose. Education can contribute positively to this in many ways:

1. A good education is one that points us to the glory of God. The glory of God is seen all around us in creation. We enjoy beauty, design, contrast, emotion, relationships, creativity, order and so much more because of who God is, how He created the world and how He has enabled us to understand and appreciate it.
2. A good education is one that models and teaches us humility. Our place in God's world is that of stewardship, not ownership. This means we do not have all the answers but work as His agents to restore, to care for, to guide, to forgive, to heal as an extension of God's character and activity. 
3. A good education is one that identifies the source of our problems. Conflict continues to escalate all around us. How is this possible when we have so much knowledge, wealth and power available to us? We must address the basic problem of humanity which is the sin condition of my own heart.
4. A good education is one that recognizes and implements the only real solution. Our search for happiness and comfort leads often to anxiety and distress. Our preoccupation with wealth and position leaves many lonely and empty. Through repentance and faith in Christ we abandon our self-will and self-worship in a restored relationship with our Creator and Redeemer who is the source of life. That is Good News!

Christian school leaders and Christian school teachers, while being responsible to teach Christianly, are also in the process of growth and learning themselves. We remind ourselves of the real source of our problems each day, our own sin. We remind ourselves of the actual solution each day, a surrender and a commitment to Christ and His purposes in the world. The hope of Christ-centered education is not in education as the solution, but rather in Christ as the solution and in education as a process to knowing Him and engaging effectively in His world.

I'm reminded of Christ's words in John 7:37-38.

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'"

We will never be satisfied with education that does not lead us to Christ. He is the only One who can satisfy our longing and actually provide for our most desperate and deepest need.

About the Author

Paul Madsen is a husband, father, teacher and learner who has lived in 4 countries and many cultural contexts. He has taught in Christian schools in the US and abroad for many years. He now works as an educational consultant with ACSI Europe developing professional resources, providing training for both teachers and students and directing the annual Student Leadership Conference. He can be reached via email at paul_madsen@acsi.org.