College...The key to success?!?

Are you concerned about your kids education? Do you want them to do well in school? Do you want them to go to college for an even better education? I do. I am a parent with three kids. I am also a college administrator. As an administrator I talk to a lot of parents who want nothing but the best for their kids when it comes to education. They want the best teachers, they want the best school, they want the best opportunities for success in the area of academics. They want access to tutors, they make sure their kids did their homework and turned it in on time, they want to take advantage of extra credit opportunities and on and on.

This week is registration for the fall term, not only here where I work but at most colleges across the country. As I walk around the campus I see students and parents looking for offices, looking for instructors, looking for familiar faces. I also hear parents asking a lot of questions, I hear them asking about financial aid, I hear them asking about who is the best instructor for a particular course, I hear them asking about programs we offer and what the job market looks like for graduates. Parents and their kids are truly concerned about making the right decisions as it relates to education. With the economy in shambles and the job market shrinking every day I certainly cannot blame them for working so hard on making the right decisions as it relates to education.

However, as I observe all of the effort parents are putting into their kids academic education I cannot help but wonder if they (me too) are as concerned about their kids spiritual education. How many parents took time to pray about what church they would attend, how many encouraged their kids to memorize verses, how many parents challenge their kids to live out the Gospel on a daily basis. How many parents ask questions about who would be the best mentor and disciple maker for their kids. How many are concerned about whether or not their child has a solid spiritual foundation. How many parents are actually living out the Gospel before their kids?

Look at just a few verses about the importance of teaching our kids about the truths of God.

Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 - 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 11: 18-21 - 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

II Timothy 3: 14, 15 - 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 6; 20-23
20 My son, keep your father’s commands
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them upon your heart forever;
fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you;
when you sleep, they will watch over you;
when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For these commands are a lamp,
this teaching is a light,
and the corrections of discipline
are the way to life,

The world has us focusing on what it thinks is important and to a certain extent the vocational and financial future of our kids is important but it does not compare to the spiritual well being of our children.

Luke 21: 33 - 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Everything this world has to offer will one day pass away but the truths of God will last forever. God help us to remember what is truly important in the area of helping our kids succeed!