I wonder how many of us have come across the idea that children who profess to be Christians should be placed in the state education system in order to test out their faith? On first glance, perhaps there is the appearance of a certain type of logic: we think our child is saved, we want our child’s faith to be strengthened, so we throw our child into the fiery furnace to see what happens. The problem is, as I read the Bible, I notice that it is God who tests his people to find out what is in their hearts and not us.
Psalms says ‘The Lord tests the righteous’ (Psalm 11:5). Moses writes to the children of Israel, ‘the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.’ (Deut 8:2) Testing is initiated by God, in his time, and is specific to individuals and peoples according to the strength of their faith (which only God knows). The purpose of testing is that it ‘produces steadfastness’ (James 1:3) and that it may ‘result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ (1 Peter 1:7)
If our children receive Christ, God will test their faith. He does this through the means of normal family life and the wise and considered decisions we may make about life that takes place outside of our home.
Truth impacts our lives and the truth that God will test those he loves is a comfort and a challenge:
1. A Christian Education Will Not Weaken Our Child’s Faith
We have no reason to fear that our children will have a weaker faith as a consequence of receiving a Christian education in our homes. This confuses our role with God’s role. Our role is to faithfully teach them his Word and point them to Christ. God’s role to convict, convert, sanctify, test and try saving faith. Children who receive a godly education and leave our homes without professing Christ would not have been Christians had they been through the state school system. We don’t need to worry we are missing a trick!
2. ‘Real Life’ Takes Place in the Home
We need to challenge the idea that ‘real life’ only takes place outside of the home. I wonder how many people would concur with the idea that life outside the home is the easy part! Stresses and strains of life in the home are the anvil upon which God purifies our hearts and the hearts of our children. We do not start to experience the real world when we step out the front door. Consider Job: where did most of his trials and testing take place? The answer is in the home! If we think about it, I imagine most people would agree that their most testing trials of faith have been within the ties of family relationships. It is simply not true to suggest that we are giving our child’s faith an easy ride by educating them at home.
3. We Need Not Lead Our Children Into Temptation
Time spent with people outside the home is a good thing. I highly recommend it! There are many reasons to meet up with others, one of the most important being that it is fun! However, my caution is that if our primary purpose for placing a child in a certain situation is to ‘test out their faith’, then just perhaps we need to consider whether in actual fact we are leading them INTO temptation. This goes against the grain of what Jesus taught. When Jesus sent his disciples into the world, it was with the purpose of them proclaiming the gospel and not with the purpose of seeing whether their faith would hold up or not. The training had taken place beforehand during the time they spend with him, and (a point I wonder whether we miss sometimes), he sent them out in twos which was surely the best way for encouragement and accountability.
There is nobody on this earth who knows my children better than my husband and I. However, it is a great comfort to know that there is one, our Father in heaven, who is far more intimately acquainted with all that is in their hearts than we are, and knows how to grow the seed of faith until one day we pray that each one will be like a ‘tree planted by streams of living water that yields its fruit in season…’ (Psalm 1:2)
