God's Equation for the Restoration of His Image

Education – it has played an important role in each of our lives since birth.  Our formal education for most of us began when we were about four or five years old.  We rebelled against having to “go to school.”  But, for most of us we continued this drudgery on through high school and into college.  We all of some idea of what education is, but is that perception one that has been influenced by Scripture, or rather by secular society?  Are we really including in our students’ education what God has intended to be included in their education?

After God gave the Children of Israel the Ten Commandments, he instructed them on how to educate their children.  Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says,

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

God desires that His Law become a part of our heart.  He wishes that it no longer be seen as a law, but rather that it become second nature out of an ever present desire to be like Him.  He desires that our actions reflect His.  He desires that we reflect our Creator’s image.  And our education and that of our students is to revolve around this purpose.   One of my favorite authors who was also a revolutionary in the field of education at her time wrote, “To many, education means a knowledge of books, but ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;’ the true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul.

If we were to approach our students’ education with the mentality that we are to aide our students in the formation of characters that reflect that of their Creator, then our students would not only have an education preparing them for heaven, but they would also incidentally gain those skills found beneficial in earthly life: care, honesty, and initiative.  The teaching of academics, or “book knowledge” while also necessary for life is merely an excuse to simultaneously train the student’s character. “As he [the teacher] awakens a desire to reach God’s ideal, he presents an education that is as high as heaven and as broad as the universe…an education that secures to the successful student his passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher grade, the school above.”