“To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.” – Noah Webster
A man of deep Christian faith, as well as one of America’s Founding Fathers, Noah Webster believed the education of children was essential for the newborn United States of America. By his example, he also displayed the value of lifelong learning. After all, his statement on the value of education appeared in the first edition of The American Dictionary of the English Language—published in 1828, when Webster was 70 years old.
Like Webster, I’m convinced that education—or, rather, a lifelong pursuit of learning—is essential not only for the benefit of the nation, but also for fruitful and joyful Christian discipleship. Not every Christian is called to be a scholar, with their head buried in books from dawn to dusk, but every Christian is called to be a student, to be a learner. After all, that’s what the biblical word, “disciple,” means.
Of course, both Scripture and Christian writers through the ages have expressed hesitation about “vain curiosity”—an out-of-control and imbalanced desire for knowledge: “There is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body” (Eccl. 12:12). “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1). The Athenians, whom the apostle Paul confronted in Acts 17:21, displayed this level of vain curiosity: “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.”
Ultimately, however, Scripture motivates us to pursue a life of learning.
In the first place, Scripture urges us to grow daily in wisdom and godly knowledge, rooted in the “fear of the Lord” (Prov 9:10). “Happy is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding,” Prov 3:13-15 says, “for she is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold.” The apostle Peter tells us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18), and to “make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (2 Pet 1:5-7). Of course, we can best grow in these ways by meditating on and living by God’s perfect, pure, trustworthy and righteous Word (Ps 19:7-14).
Second, we’re called to meditate on God’s wondrous works, which declare God’s glory (Ps 19:1-6). Everything in His creation should inspire a sense of wonder in us. “There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject,” wrote G.K. Chesterton. “The only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.” George Washington Carver, the agricultural scientist who discovered hundreds of uses for the peanut (including peanut butter), never outgrew his desire to learn about God’s world. Reflecting on the wonders of creation, he wrote,
“The singing birds, the buzzing bees, the opening flower, and the budding trees all have their marvelous creation story to tell each searcher for truth . . . from the frail little mushroom, which seems to spring up in a night and perish ere the morning sun sinks to rest in the western horizon, to the giant redwoods of the Pacific slope that have stood the storms for centuries . . . Nature in its varied forms are the little windows through which God permits me to commune with Him, and to see much of His glory, majesty, and power by simply lifting the curtain and looking in. . . . I love to think of nature as unlimited broadcasting stations, through which God speaks to us every day, every hour and every moment of our lives, if we will only tune in and remain so. . . . I am more and more convinced, as I search for truth, that no ardent student of nature can ‘Behold the lilies of the field,’ or ‘Look unto the hills,’ or study even the microscopic wonders of a stagnant pool of water, and honestly declare himself to be an infidel.”
Finally, it would be well for us to grow by learning new skillsets throughout our lives. Not only can this add enjoyment to life, but it can also provide ways for us to connect with people and serve them—displaying Christ’s love to both believers and unbelievers alike.
So, as young people make there way back to school this month, it’s worth remembering that our education, on this earth at least, never ends. Happy learning!