The news is perpetually filled with headlines of parents’ rights being trumped by progressive educational objectives and political agendas. I read a new article on the subject almost daily, it seems. The American public school system does not hold a neutral position on matters of morality and principle. (Honestly, I don’t believe it ever did, but that’s a conversation for another day.) The point is, our public institutions of learning are working overtime in an attempt to erase every notion of God, along with the Judeo-Christian values upon which the Western world has thrived for centuries.
The resulting vacuum is quickly being filled with a “new” kind of religion: one whose tangled roots can be found in gnosticism, Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, and recycled Marxist theories in which knowledge has become a special form of bourgeois property. This is no longer merely a fringe opinion; This is where public education in America has long been headed, and honestly, I don’t foresee this train being derailed.
The reality is, it’s extremely difficult to un-teach 40 hours a week of explicitly anti-Biblical education. I won’t say it’s impossible, but it’s certainly not easy. So this prompts the question, what are Christian parents to do in response to the current state of education in America? When confronted with a situation like this one, I am often convicted by the words of theologian Oswald Bayer. He conveys that the appropriate and ethical question we should ask ourselves is not “what should I do?”, but rather “what have I been given?” (“What do you have that has not been given to you?” 1 Corinthians 4:7)
It is in our most basic and fundamental gifts from the Lord that we are also given our primary vocations — child of God, spouse, parent, and more. Christians understand that children are a gift from our gracious God. If the Lord has shared with us this gift, He has also given us co-responsibility. Our primary task as parents, then, is to steward the gift of our children well. How can we fulfill that responsibility? God’s Word offers clarity: we are called to love and care for our children, and to disciple them everyday (Deuteronomy 6) in what God says is objectively good, right, and true.
Clear and concise instructions? Yes.
Easy to accomplish? No, not at all.
A worthwhile investment of our time and energy? Definitely.
Yes, it’s really tough to be a faithful parent in a sin-filled world that is tugging our kids in every direction. The good news is, we’re not in this alone. As much as we think we love our kids, our Triune God loves them infinitely more. He created them before they were born, graciously gifted them to us, redeemed them by His blood, and sanctifies them each day. He will continue to provide us with opportunities to be faithful parents, even when it’s challenging or downright scary.
One of the greatest gifts God gives us is the Church. Within the body of Christ, we find a community of people to hold us accountable and to bear each other’s burdens. We are surrounded by a whole host of saints who are equipped with many gifts and abilities, often different from our own, and they are eager to share their time and wisdom. The Church is a fortress of redeemed sinners, outfitted with the full armor of God, ready to circle up and share the arrows that the world will undoubtedly continue to hurl at our kids.
Parents, we probably can’t save America or reform the public education system. But we can pray to God for the strength and determination to make the best use of our time, and to carefully steward the precious, finite moments that He gives us with our children. Being faithful in this vocation of parenting will undoubtedly require us to make decisions and sacrifices that stretch us to the very limits of our time, energy, and finances. It’s only possible when we lean solely on the self-sacrificial love of Christ abiding in our hearts, and not on our own reason or strength.
Jesus is the greatest gift. The Word of God is the only lasting hope that we cling to. As we write it upon the hearts of our children, we quietly and confidently profess that certain hope. Day by day and moment by moment, we bear humble witness to the eschatological reality that Christ is coming back to restore this broken world in its entirety. Until that Day, may He lead us to always ponder the question, “What have I been given?”, and let us respond to those gifts with faithfulness.
