2004
Thursday, March 18
In the midst of the series I’m doing on the 7 Pillars of Wisdom, today I’m interjecting this post on the principal purpose of Lifestyle Education through
Discipleship.
The guiding principal behind L.E.D. is not just to have a relaxed,
natural-methods, lifestyle-based home education. It is not even just
to have family-centered education. It’s not even just to raise kids
who “love Jesus” and to shelter them from “the world”. These are all
good parts of L.E.D., but none of them is the “principal thing;”
although knowing, loving, and serving the Jesus of the Bible is
definitely the reason for our educational goal.
Proverbs 4:7 tells us “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get
wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.” (See also verses
4-9.) L.E.D. has one main underlying goal, that is for our children to
“get wisdom”. We’ve talked before about how the “Fear of the Lord is
the beginning of Wisdom.” Therefore, any instruction your child
receives that is not based on the Fear of the Lord, is not wisdom;
which throws out the entire government/public school system. No matter
how many Christian teachers and coaches are there trying to bring a
little light into a very dark place for the lost and dying that are
there, government education is designed with a main underlying goal
also, to indoctrinate children into their way of thinking and beliefs
about life. These ways are blatantly at odds with the ways of the
Bible, making this no place for a Christian child to receive his
instruction; his view of life and way of thinking. But expounding on
this issue isn’t the purpose of this article. The purpose of ALL
education is to impart a way of thinking and view of life. By defining
OUR goal, hopefully you will see how the goals of these 2 systems –
government/public ed and L.E.D. – are worlds apart.
Let’s begin with a working definition of Wisdom. Wisdom is seeing life
as God sees it; viewing the world, all of life, through the lens of
God’s Word. That is called having a Biblical Worldview. You can see
why this begins with the “fear of the Lord”. The beginning of Wisdom
is knowing who God really is, (which instills an honor and reverence of
Him,) and believing the Bible is His Word, and having a desire to
follow His ways. The Bible, God, through His Word, speaks to all areas
of our lives; and wisdom for living all of life is based on renewing
our minds to His Word, developing a Biblical Worldview. In fact Joshua
1:8 puts it, that by having His Word always in our mouths, and
meditating on it day and night, to do all that is in it, is the way to
prosperity and good success.
We, as Christians, are in the world (we live on this earth, amongst
those that are of “this world” only), yet we are not to be “of the
world”. We are set apart to live differently than those of this world;
to live a lifestyle rooted in the way of God’s Word, not following the
ungodly lifestyle, ways & beliefs of this world. Romans 12:1 tells us
that we are not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by
the renewing of the mind. That is, God’s Word changing not only WHAT
we think, but also HOW we think – transforming our minds, totally
changing them from the way the world thinks. Having a Biblical
Worldview doesn’t just mean we don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t cuss,
don’t sleep around, and we do go to church on Sunday instead of
sleeping in, and if we’re really on the ball, we say a prayer and read
a verse every day. It means our way of thinking and viewing all of
life is governed by God’s Word, rather than by the world around us.
The title of Israel Wayne’s book, Homeschooling from a Biblical
Worldview, really sums up our goal. Just by BEING Christians, you
will not impart a Biblical Worldview to your children. Perhaps your
own mind is not renewed, and you don’t even have much of a Biblical
Worldview yourself, to impart to them. Everything that is around us in
“the world” counters a Biblical Worldview. That is why we must
purposely “not be conformed” to it, why we must purposely renew our
minds by the Word of God. If your own mind has not been transformed,
from the non-Christian education you received and just from living “in
the world”, this goal of “Homeschooling from a Biblical Worldview” may
seem impossible to you. But what God has called you to do, He will
equip you do to. You may have to learn right alongside your children,
leading them, being only one step ahead.
Having your children be at home with you, rather than “out in the
world”, will not give them a Biblical Worldview. It will not give them
the foundation they need to stand strong in their Christianity in an
ever-growing anti-Christian society. (I hope this strong Christianity,
this Wisdom, is what you want for your children.) Resorting to
educating with whatever free or cheap resources you can find that cover
the topic, using a hodge-podge of resources with no thought to the
worldview they’re written from, will only give your child an
inconsistent Worldview; a shaky, unstable foundation at best (no
foundation, or a faulty non-Christian one at worst); especially if you
don’t have a solid Biblical Worldview yourself to recognize and counter
those views presented in those resources.
Purposely educating your children from a Biblical Worldview will give
them the foundation, to not only stand as Christians, but to make
inroads in changing this world; to affect the lives of those around
them – however large or small God makes that scope – for the Kingdom of
God. This is why L.E.D. exists for YOU, and not just as a philosophy
for educating our own family. Our desire, through L.E.D. (and all of
Me and My House ministries), is to help disciple you to lead (disciple)
your family into a Biblical Worldview, through home educating by
Lifestyle methods; even as we ourselves are growing in grace and the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior and His Word.
