Parents, adults, and the wise – they have repeated the truth of the importance of education since I was a young pup. I, however, either did not believe them at best and thought they were naive at worst. The power of education and knowledge, I thought, were simply theoretical. How could learning, beyond the mere basics of reading, writing, and basic math, actually help anyone? I applied this philosophy of suspicion and disbelief all through my life. I simply “got” through school. I gave school probably 40% of my effort in my first ten years. Then, I became a Christian and decided to give probably 70% of my efforts. I just didn’t see the lasting results, either eternally or long-term, benefits of giving my all.
It wasn’t until I got to AIT (Advanced Individual Training) that I truly realized the importance of education: How important things I previously shrugged off as unimportant truly were. Knowing how to spell, use proper punctuation, and to write and think analytically – these are all essential characteristics of an educated individual. This is knowledge that is taught free to all school aged children. You can choose to absorb all of this or, as I did, reject it. The latter is folly.
Why cripple yourself from the respect and ethos of all your future coworkers, employees, and bosses? There is nothing more embarrassing than to misspell a common or easily spelled word or to not punctuate correctly, complex sentences; ironically, in this situation, your ability to write complex and interesting sentences, actually, works against you rather than for you. This, however, is the only earthly reason to strive for knowledge, for God is concerned with this realm: education. Education, or better stated: our attitude on education, is underneath the sphere of labor; have you not heard the old saying, “school is your job”? As a school aged child or an adult in school, education is your job and God is very concerned in the sphere of labor. In Ecclesiastes 9:10, ” Whatever your hands finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where your going,” the bible commands us to do everything with our “might” (give it all you have). Is this a suggestion or command? You will find that in the bible there are very few suggestions in all of scripture. To conclude, Ephesians 6:5-8 says, “Bondservants [workers] be obedient to those who are your masters [bosses] according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ [Christ is who you should be working unto, not man] not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants [workers] of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, [working for the Lord] and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.” The Lord says when we work we need to work unto the Lord, not unto men. If we were to work unto the Lord, would we not work with all our might? I think not. Lastly, it promise that we will receive rewards for our good deeds. If you trust in the Lord God, you will be blessed: Psalms 40:4, “blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.”
Inscribed by Maritn, Jamie
Edited by Martin, Stephanie
