PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

God, Education, and Character

Philippians 1:21 According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.

According to the above scriptures, every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has a particular function-he is an earthen vessel designed to magnify Christ in his body. Man was created according to the image and likeness of God to be a vessel that both contains and expresses God (cf. Genesis 1:26-28). The fulfillment of man's intended function was not realized until the Lord Jesus came to the earth, at which time the Lord Himself became the accomplishment of God's purpose for man. But God is not satisfied to have one unique Man who lived in such a way. Rather, His goal is to have a complete expression among His creation through His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people. He will complete His purpose by entering into His people and indwelling them as the life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45; Romans 8:9-11).

The Bible is a wonderful book. What does the Bible speak about? It is entirely correct for us to say that the Bible speaks about Christ, life, and salvation. Moreover, it is not wrong to say that the Bible speaks about wives submitting to their husbands, husbands loving their wives, children honoring their parents, and parents caring for their children. Neither is it wrong to say that the Bible speaks about humility, patience, peace, and goodness. Nor is it wrong to say that it speaks about God's love, God's light, and God's holiness. Furthermore, it is not wrong to say that the Bible teaches us to worship God, to love God, and to serve God. We can list hundreds and even thousands of topics that the Bible speaks about. However, the strange thing is that we may never have heard a message in Christianity telling us that the Bible speaks about eating.

GOD

To say that these three things are eating, drinking, and money is terrible. What we need is not eating, not drinking, and not money. In the universe, the most important One and the first One is God. Our need is not eating and drinking, but God. If you do not have God, you miss a lot; if you do not have God, you have not yet started your race. Because the worldly people do not know God, they have not started their course. They do not know what the racecourse is. They are simply in darkness. They are walking, even running, in the vanity of their mind. From the time of their forefathers until now, they do not have God. It is pitiful not to have God. The Bible says that the most pitiful person is the one who does not have God. You may lose everything but you should not lose God. As long as you have God, everything is all right.

EDUCATION

What is the second thing you need? You may say it is the Word, the church life, the Body life, or to be burning in spirit, but if you have God, you have all these things. God is the totality of these items. As long as you have God, that is enough; that implies a lot. You may also say that we need a spirit to contact God. Yes, you do have a spirit, but that is not the second thing you need. The number one thing young people need is God. This may surprise you, but the second thing you need is education.

I know you may not like to hear this; this may bother you a lot. You may say, "Oh, education! That is terrible. From pre-school to kindergarten, elementary, junior high, high school, and university-we study books from the time we are four years old! I hate all the books!" You do nothing but handle book after book for exactly twenty years. If you would not spend twenty years for education, you might be a wretched person, never knowing that you need God.

You need education. At this time you may be in junior high. You must reach the goal of getting a grade point average of 4.0. Let me encourage you to get higher than a 4.0. Does this bother you? The fact is, if you do not take my word, you will regret it when you pass the age of twenty-four, but that will be too late. The best time to get your education is from the age of four to twenty-four. That is the unique time; there is no other time for this. Many of you are close to fourteen. That means that half of your age for education has passed. You have only ten years left. I must tell you that what your life will be all depends upon the upcoming ten years. Please believe my word. If you get a 3.9, that is wonderful, but when you are twenty-four, you will regret it. You will say, "Why did I not spend a little more energy to get a 4.0 or higher?"

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