With Christ, In School

I want so much to be Spiritual and to walk in the Spirit, yet not be accused of sloppy thinking and believing. I believe that God's divine power has given to us all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Truly, all there is to know is Christ and Him crucified, because to know God is to know all things because all matter originates in His being.

I believe there are many examples of learned disciples of Christ, who were teachers, who spoke and wrote with clarity, whose minds were shaped by the Holy Spirit. That does not make them less intellectual, but far more so, in the right way. They do not depend on their own intellect, and thus, have the gift from God of knowledge and understanding beyond all that they are capable of.

What does it mean to be "With Christ, In School"? I want so much to be on the right track now, while I am still being educated. That means that the choices I make and the lessons I learn now, I want it worthwhile and of God. I don't want to look back on my education and regret, or have to "count it all loss". I want an education that is cross-centered, and I believe that that is possible, and far more, necessary.

God must be brought into every square corner of my life. His Words, His call to absolute obedience, must penetrate even the "earthly" parts of life, including education.

The growth of a disciple is laid out as such in 1st Peter 1: faith, diligence, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.

Therefore, faith alone must be worked out with all diligence. Virtue, strength of character must accompany it, and also knowledge. Knowledge in a disciple is a great thing,  but it not enough to know, one must also have temperance and personal discipline. A complete education encompasses all these things.


And I end by quoting an old School-prayer taught to children.

Father of all! we return thee most humble and hearty thanks for thy protection of us in the night season, and for the refreshment of our souls and bodies, in the sweet repose of sleep. Accept also our unfeigned gratitude for all thy mercies during the helpless age of infancy.

Continue, we beseech thee, to guard us under the shadow of thy wing. Our age is tender, and our nature frail, and without the influence of thy grace, we shall surely fall.

Let that influence descend into our hearts, and teach us to love thee and truth above all things. O guard our hearts from the temptations to deceit, and grant, that we may abhor a lie as a sin and as a disgrace.

Inspire us also with an abhorrence of the loathsomeness of vice, and the pollutions of sensual pleasure. Grant at the same time, that we may early feel the delight of conscious purity, and wash our hands in innocency, from the united motives of inclination and of duty.

Give us, O thou Parent of all knowledge, a love of learning, and a taste for the pure and sublime pleasures of the understanding. Improve our memory, quicken our apprehension, and grant that we may lay up such a store of learning, as may fit us for the station to which it shall please thee to call us, and enable us to make great advances in virtue and religion, and shine as lights in the world, by the influence of a good example.

Give us grace to be diligent in our studies, and that whatever we read we may strongly mark, and inwardly digest it.

Bless our parents, guardians, and instructors; and grant that we may make them the best return in our power, for giving us opportunities of improvement, and for all their care and attention to our welfare. They ask no return, but that we should make use of those opportunities, and co-operate with their endeavours—O grant that we may never disappoint their anxious expectations.

Assist us mercifully, O Lord, that we may immediately engage in the studies and duties of the day, and go through them cheerfully, diligently and successfully.

Accept our endeavors, and pardon our defects through the merits of our blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.