4 Back to School Requirements

I had a conversation with a parent a few days ago about the upcoming school year and his children. He was concerned that sports had taken such a huge role in one if his kids’ life, that he was concerned nothing else mattered to the boy. My response seemed to be “out in left field” to him, because I said we should look to Scripture for advice.

Christians are to be like Jesus, Christian parents can look to how Jesus was educated and emulate Him and His schooling.

In Luke 2:52, is a short verse about Jesus’ “grade school years”, but a LOT can be learned:  “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

The schooling of Jesus here shows four areas: mental, physical, spiritual, and social.  Parenting must give equal effort to each, and none at the expense of another.  They are individual areas, but work together, and it takes all four to have a well rounded student:

• Mental The main focus in the classroom. It’s listed first for a reason. It is the foundation from which the other three build from.  Mental includes academics or the knowledge of things, and the wisdom of how to use or apply those things.
  Mental must also include the knowledge of what is right and true. Also includes discernment, which means the thought process to evaluate and come to a conclusion on any topic or issue, usually based on the knowledge of right and truth. Mental means to think logically.
  Mental must also include self discipline, which is the ability and maturity to control your thoughts and ideas, since everything begins in the mind as a thought or idea. Self discipline is a mental ability for all areas of our life. Mental must include the understanding of a biblical world view, including the battle of good versus evil (God and Satan), our sinful nature, the penalty for sin, and the remedy found only in Jesus. Mental must include the tools necessary to serve God, and to recognize, resist, and battle Satan, as described in Ephesians 6:10-20.  God said in Hosea 4:6 that His people were being destroyed because of their lack of knowledge, God wishes we become mentally great, which includes academics, and knowledge of Him and His requirements of us.
• Physical  We are not purely mental, but physical as well; they go hand in hand.  A physically strong, healthy, and active person is a mentally strong, healthy, and active person.  Teaching physical topics includes our bodies as the temple of God, and the proper use for our bodies, as well as some misuse topics (what is acceptable, and unacceptable to God).  It also includes physical activity such as recess, gym class, and after-school sports. I believe Jesus was strong and physically fit, and worked hard at the proper times to maintain it.
  I am a big proponent for sports in school, and sports teams for home schooled students to join. God created us to be physical beings, to use and enjoy the use of our bodies in glorifying Him in physical activity, and to learn valuable lessons.  Sports teaches self discipline, character, respect for rules and authority, boundaries, respect for others. It teaches confidence, work ethic, communication, responsibility, unity, and many other lessons in life, including winning and losing…and how to handle each.  I praise God for sports because of it is a wonderful place to teach children the valuable lessons He wants them to learn. I would like to add a comment here that sports can also be an area where we can easily succumb to worldly views, instead of godly requirements.  We are to portray the character of Jesus, not selfish prideful character that can be demeaning of others. Our coaches need to teach this. We need to be truthful. If a child makes a mistake, telling them “it’s OK” is not the truth, but telling them where their mistake occurred and encourage them to try again is.  Everyone is made by God with different abilities and different levels of ability, but all can be a glory to God.  There are winners and there are losers, but losers can be winners if they gave 100% of their effort. How the game is played is more important than winning. Compromising your values to win is a horrible life lesson to teach in sports.  Teach Christian values, and sports is a great place to teach, practice, and perfect those values.
• Spiritual  As mentioned in the mental area above, teach the biblical world view. Spirituality is part of this, of course, and must include the teaching and understanding of God’s Word, the Bible.  Spiritual comes from the Latin spiritus which means breathing.  Religious and spiritual are two different things.  Religion is people’s attempt to please God, spiritual is taking on the nature or the very essence of God, and becomes a necessary part of us like breathing.  In 2 Timothy 3:16, the Bible says that all scripture is “God breathed”.  Therefore, the meaning of being spiritual is to have as our nature, or our very essence, the Word of God.  We are to live the Bible.  In addition to that, the Bible teaches that we are created by God to have a relationship with Him. A relationship with God is so important to Him, that He sent His Son to die on the cross to pay for our sins, so we can have a communicative relationship with God without the barrier of sin between us.  God loves to communicate with us (prayer, and reading His Word) as in personal devotions and personal prayer time. He loves for us to try to understand Him, and to be obedient to Him, which is spiritual. 
  Spiritual also means to have and disseminate a biblical world view, it means to glorify God in all we say and do.
• Social  We are to have and maintain relationships. We are to have companionship and unity among fellow Christians.  God wants us to be involved in our local church, and a ministry of some sort, with relationships.  Relationships are extremely important for growth as a Christian, accountability as a Christian, and the spreading of the Gospel.  To be social, we must have the learned ability to reason logically and to communicate effectively through rhetoric. Being social means to be friendly, courteous, caring, loving, respectful, serving, compassionate, trustworthy, God-honoring, and edifying.
  By nature, people are selfish, self-centered, and proud (sinful nature we all have), which are detrimental to relationships with others, and to our relationship with God.  To be social, we must have well developed mental and spiritual areas (see above). Kids today are the most social kids in all of history, with e-mail, texting, cell phones, and social sites on the internet.  Teach dos and don’ts of e-mailing, politeness, etiquette, and social rules and courtesy.
  To re-iterate: being social is a learned skill, and as mentioned above, schooling must include teaching logic and rhetoric. Christian parents make sure your child’s school teaches others-centered, Christ-like social skills based on biblical mental abilities, and spiritual abilities, with the awareness and overcoming of selfishness and pride. If they don’t, then you do it!
  Christianity is intended by Jesus to be a group effort. To be out in the world’s “battlefield”, but to regroup, huddle up with other Christians around God’s Word, recharge, then go back out.  We are to assemble as believers, encourage each other, hold each other accountable, and ensure each other is living an obedient, fruitful life in Christ. Jesus said we are to be lights in a dark world. Remember the song “This little light of mine”? we are not to hide our light under a bushel, but to let it shine outside of the church and school environment.  Being social is important to God, and should be in our parenting.

Educators and parents are doing their student a disservice when there is little or no balance of these 4 areas.  When a school puts so much emphasis on one area, academics and homework for example, that sports suffer (physical), church activities and personal devotions are deleted (spiritual and social), and there is no time to go bowling or to the movies with friends or to family events (social), something is wrong.  In that environment, students are not given the opportunity to grow fully like Jesus Christ.

Kids will become underdeveloped and struggle through the next chapters in their life when these 4 areas are not somewhat equally taught. It may not need to be an equal 25% for each, but it does need to be close. Emulate the schooling Jesus had in the four areas above, and your students will burst forth when they graduate excited, hopeful and enthused, well rounded, Christ-like, and glorifying Him, not soured, scared, and incomplete.