His Ways and My Ways

Being a teachable man is both humbling and enlightening.

I was recently at a basketball game where my grandchildren attend a private Christian school. As I’d noticed before, the bleachers weren’t packed with parents and other supporters from either team. It saddened me, because the volume of energy that’s evident at most public school sporting events just wasn’t there.

And everyone understands why. It costs extra money to go here. So there’s that.

But my sorrow quickly turned into resentment.

I kept asking myself, why does it have to be this way? The parents and other taxpayers of school districts should have the option to designate funds otherwise assessed them by the counties for education to an institution of their choice.

And what about the kids themselves? Why should they be denied the provision of principled instruction—something that’s clearly circling the drain in public schools everywhere?

Then it hit me.

Any institution of learning will eventually reflect the values of those who ultimately underwrite its objectives. So, would it be prudent for a private Christian school to accept tuition from parents who aren’t convinced that a Biblically based curriculum is an effective solution to their moral dilemma?

Think about it.

If there were a massive influx of their tax dollars into private education, wouldn’t it be just a matter of time before those institutions evolved into the same contaminated environments they’d be running away from? While it’s true that some faithless young minds can indeed be transformed under these circumstances, wouldn’t the Biblical objectives of the school still be jeopardized in the process?

Because I also recalled the apostle Paul’s allusion to the prophet Jeremiah [Jer. 51:45] when he warned the congregations in Corinth to set themselves apart from the rest of the world:

Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘And do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,’ says the Lord Almighty.” [2Cor. 6:17-18]

[Why is it important not to be yoked with an unbeliever? see:A Sufficient Degree of Separation]

I was humbled. What I thought would be the solution for His people actually isn’t. It hadn’t occurred to me that these kids don’t have to have all that unbridled noise and attention. It’s okay that their uniforms are sometimes incomplete, shared and often mismatched for lack of funding. In fact, they don’t need anything He hasn’t already given them.

That’s the way He works, not us.

For the sheep who hear His voice, He has revealed that the cost of “coming out from among them” is never too high. For others, it’s simply not worth it.

The faithful sheep outside His pen will eventually find their way through the gate, though.

But if the doors are opened too wide, the wolves can get in.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” [Isa. 55:8-9]