Homeschooling: From Worthy Goal to Forever Goal
I am confident that many, probably most, homeschoolers fret at one time or another about covering all that their children need. What secular homeschoolers don’t know or don’t realize is that they can’t cover the “all” that their children need without Christ. In trying to prepare their children well, they inadvertently leave out what is most important.
Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it.
Psalm 127:1a
Girl Building a House of Cards, mid-1700s,
attributed to Irish painter Thomas Frye
courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1890
As parents we want our efforts to be long lasting, firm and on a strong foundation, not flimsy, temporary, and in danger of falling apart like a house of cards.
In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul explains in detail the reality and the purpose of Christ’s resurrection. When he explains to the Corinthians how central the resurrection is, he tells them:
If we have hoped in Christ
in this life only,
we are of all men
most to be pitied.
1 Corinthians 15:11
Paraphrasing that verse, I’d like to offer this thought about homeschooling:
If we have homeschooled for this life only, we are of all mamas and daddies most to be pitied.
Homeschooling for this life is a worthy goal, but it pales in comparison to homeschooling for forever.
Do not love the world
nor the things in the world . . .
The world is passing away,
and also its lusts;
but the one who
does the will of God
lives forever.
1 John 2:15, 17