EDUCATION FOR ETERNITY

"The education of children for God is the most important business done on earth. It is the one business for which the earth exists. To it, all politics, all war, all literature, all money-making, ought to be subordinated; and every parent especially ought to feel, every hour of the day, that, next to making his own calling and election sure, this is the end for which he is kept alive by God-this is his task on earth." R. L. Dabney

I like a good quote, but isn’t this a bit of hyperbole?

I don’t think so. Instead, I think it is a poignant statement that challenges Christian parents to assess their priorities and examine the foundation and framework of their child’s education. The author, a pastor of the 19th century, certainly intends us to consider the vital function which education fulfills as we nurture and instruct our children. Furthermore, he would have us see that education is a mission with eternal consequences.

In our confession of faith, we acknowledge that our chief end or purpose is “to (know, or) glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever." This being true, we must work to provide a thorough Christian education that embodies the essentials of the Christian faith in the foundation and applies God's Word to the rest of the framework. Is it hard work? Yes! But it has inestimable value.

And that is what is so invigorating and sobering about the work of Christian education at TCS—God is at work in our midst! He is growing our children and instructing them while using us as his instruments. Let’s believe it. Political machinations, financial markets and even war, as serious or complex or seemingly consequential as these things are, do not have the soul-molding influence that education has. This awesome fact keeps me going as a Christian educator. I hope it also keeps you, as a parent, a faithful partner in Christian education with Trinity Christian School.