A great danger of the present-day educational system is its policy of teaching our children how to be great in the world. In every respect this is opposed to the heavenly calling and character of the Christian. Children are taught to climb and excel socially, economically and in every field of endeavor. What we as Christians should aim at is to get through the world with the least possible defilement, looking off unto Jesus as the One who ran the whole race of faith and is “set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). We must have a certain amount of the world’s education, and some occupations may require specialized training beyond the legal demand, but for the Christian, his education, in whatever amount necessary, should be made subservient to his living to glorify God while in transit through a wicked world. It should never be used as a steppingstone to becoming great in this world where our Lord was cast out. It is little short of treason to Him to seek to be great in the house of His enemies. It is salutary to remember that the higher we get in this world, the closer we get to its head, the god and prince of it. It is easier to go on with God in a modest, quiet and unassuming way than when in a place of importance in this world. When the Lord was cast out of the world, His leaving it did not make a ripple in its course. May Christians walk as He did.
Counsel and Help
When we consider the need of guarding our children against worldly philosophy which would teach them to be great in the world that hates our Lord, it might be well to add a few words regarding the need for counseling and helping them in selecting a suitable occupation for life. This should not be undertaken without much prayer for divine wisdom and guidance. Parents should be able from experience and observation to help point out a right path for them. There are some occupations which could not be undertaken by a Christian without serious spiritual loss; a son or daughter should be warned against these. Then there are others which may be satisfactory in themselves, but which would not suit their temperament or capabilities. It would be folly to try to make an accountant out of a young man who had no aptitude for the handling of figures, or to make a businessman out of a son who simply had no ability in that area. Proverbs 22:6 JND tells us, “Train up a child according to the tenor of his way.” This includes the recognition of each individual child’s natural abilities, and encouraging him or her in that way. Parents should not try to “force a square peg into a round hole.”
Some people can work well with their hands who could not succeed at anything else, and there is no disgrace connected with honest manual labor. Some people have had hard struggles through life by reason of trying to do something for which they were not fitted. It is well when one can have a means of earning his livelihood where he can “therein abide with God” (1 Cor. 7:24). And whatever it is —business, profession, or manual labor — it should be only a means of making a living while we pass through the world; our chief concern should be to do all to the glory of God.
Ambitions
There is a treacherous principle which often works in the hearts of Christian parents; that is, to seek great things for their children. They are often content to pass through the world with little themselves, but strive to help their children reach greater heights. Sometimes parents may even try to realize their own frustrated ambitions in their children. The prophet Jeremiah was instructed to speak thus to Baruch: “Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not” (Jer. 45:5). May we not ask in like spirit, “Seekest thou great things for thy children? seek them not,” but rather seek that they may go through this world with godliness and contentment, honoring God and glorifying Christ. A dear Christian father who helped his children to reach high places, later saw to his sorrow that it was done to their great spiritual loss and damage, and was heard to lament for his son, “I would rather he were sweeping the streets of the city.”
Worldly Influence
Lot may have desired for his children the advantages that Sodom offered, but it was to their ruin. How many parents have taken their children into the world, and then when they realized what had happened (for such steps are often almost imperceptible at first), they sought to get them out, but found that it was impossible. Lot took his family into Sodom and lost some of his children there, and those who were “saved... so as by fire” were a shame and a disgrace to him. Oh that Christian parents would realize the danger of the world for their children, and use every care to keep them from it, and instruct them how they should live in it!
In the days of Joshua the Israelites were in danger of serving the idols of the heathen, just as today Christians are tempted to serve the world and its aims, but Joshua summed up the matter in a few words and put it pointedly before them. He placed Jehovah the God of Israel on the one side, and all the idols on the other, and said to them, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Josh. 24:15). They were going to serve one or the other. Our Lord Himself said, “No servant can serve two masters ... Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13). May there be more, like Joshua, who can speak for themselves and for their families, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15). May the Lord grant to us all this purpose of heart on the one hand, and a great sense of our own weakness on the other, so that we cast ourselves and our families on Him for His help to “walk and to please God” (1 Thess. 4:1).
P. Wilson (adapted from The Institution of Marriage)