The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight (Proverbs 9:10).
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:4–9).
What is education? What is the goal of education? Why is education important to every human being?
These are important questions that genuinely need wise, accurate answers.
One definition of education is “the process of obtaining knowledge and wisdom that will help you to be successful in life.”
Another definition of education is “the discipline of gaining knowledge, skills, and training that will equip you to reach your potential in life.”
Actually, a hundred different persons may give you one hundred different definitions for the word “education.”
The Word of God gives us a very good start on understanding the true meaning of education as evidenced by Proverbs 9:10 above.
All genuine education begins and ends with God - period. God is the Source of all knowledge. And He is the Source of all wisdom, science, understanding, and truth.
In view of these insights, true education always has and always will begin and end with God.
Genuine, accurate knowledge and understanding cannot even be correctly acknowledged or comprehended fully without Christ and knowledge of Him.
Some persons may respond to such a statement by saying “Well, I know a lot of people who are highly educated and yet don’t even believe in God.”
The Word of God has something to say about people like this:
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good (Psalm 14:1).
So, it is actually correct to say that people who say there is no God, are not truly educated. They may very well have knowledge and limited understanding about some things, but they actually cannot be truly and fully educated.
Everything in the natural world was created by God and came from Him.
For persons who seek to become “educated” yet do not include God and His Word in their education, they, in essence, cut the foundation of all education from under themselves.
Again, all knowledge and genuine education begins and ends with God.
In the book of Romans, chapter one, important light is shed upon these truths about knowledge and understanding.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them (Romans 1:18-32).
So, to state this truth one more time, all knowledge and true education always begins and ends with God and His Word – period.
For people to genuinely know and understand truth, they must be touched, moved upon, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God.
And, always know that the most important “textbook” you will need to read and have great knowledge of is the written Word of God.
Genuinely educated people are wise to read and study – and to continue to read and study this chief “textbook.” Why? Well, one could say that all of life is an “open book test.”
We as believers are wise to live in the book, and know and stay close to its Author.
