For some time now, our culture has tried to insist that there is and ought to be a definite line between what we refer to as sacred, having to do with God, and the secular, just about everything else. We like to feel that we are in control of our lives and our destinies, and we want to be able to choose God when and if we desire. Of course, many choose to leave God out of their lives entirely, which is believed to be our free choice. This issue is more than just whether we choose to attend a church service. Whether we realize it or not, there is not a decision made or thought we have that does not present itself at the juncture of sacred and secular. In reality, the only distinction that exists between the two is an artificial division we choose to impose on our lives.
Since the fall of Man in the garden, our sinful human nature has tried to find any way possible to put God in a place where we can bring Him out when it is convenient for us. We want to make sure that we maintain our independence from Him even though such a concept is foolishness. In Paul’s speech before the Athenian Areopagus, he makes it clear that our dependence upon God is certain and significant.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. Acts 17:24, 25
Though man may declare independence from God, it does not change the very real fact that we are utterly and completely dependent upon Him for everything, including our next heartbeat and breath.
Nowhere is this understanding more important than in the area of our thinking and knowledge. From our perspective, it seems we can think freely and can choose to include God’s ideas or not choose them. Yet, in reality, every thought is either in agreement with God’s or it is not. Our government schools have tried to make it nearly criminal to bring thoughts of the sacred in the discussions of information and knowledge gleaned from any source. Like it or not, the young minds in such institutions are being trained to think that there is a lot of our lives, if not all, that can be independent of God and even the very thoughts of Him. Not only is such an approach untrue, it is eternally dangerous to every soul that would follow it. When we try to divorce God from our thoughts and our practice, we automatically choose that which is contrary to His divine direction for living.
One of the most important arguments in favor of Christian schools is that we are endeavoring to erase the notion of a line between the secular and the sacred. God is everything and in everything, including and especially our thoughts and understanding of the world He created. By training students to consider all knowledge in light of what God has revealed to be true, we are helping them to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” (II Corinthians 10:5).
This should be the desire of every Christian parent who is seeking to bring their child up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I am fully aware of the sacrifice it takes to enroll a child in a Christian school. There is a sacrifice of time and money and more. However, I urge you to consider the sacrifice you are making by placing the children God has given you to steward in a government school. Is the sacrifice of the soul greater than the sacrifice to put your child at a Christian school?
Amen.
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