1. Who will join the Christian College, in the classroom of the Lamb?
Truths are taught there from the Master, from the lips of the I AM.
Leave your worldly exercises, all degrees and earthly prizes;
Come in thru the narrow door; take your place upon the floor.
2. What will be the course of study, in this school of higher things?
God’s own plan for human beings, which His Holy Spirit brings:
A renewal of man’s nature, learn to think like our Creator;
Love to God and love to man; here’s the education plan!
3. Once, a man named Moses signed up for God’s education plan;
Set aside Egyptian training and became the meekest man.
Led God’s children unto freedom, and delivered Laws of wisdom;
Then in heaven’s schools to dwell, as the mighty Gabriel.
4. Jesus came to His own College, in the flesh of fallen man.
From the Bible and from hardships, learned God’s education plan.
What a life of strength and honour, blessing, wisdom, glory, power!
Riches too, forever be, to the man of Calvary.
5. But one class is yet in session, ‘fore God’s school on earth will close.
Come you hungry, thirsty students, righteousness will fill all those.
Put on graduation garments, pass the test of heav’nly judgment;
Stand upon the sea of glass, nevermore to leave the class!
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Christian education has one object: to restore the image of God in man. It means regaining self-control, trust, willing obedience, and dignity.
The education is primarily character-training: God working to create in man the qualities of His holy law, and man cooperating in practicing these traits in his daily life, and by so doing, fixing them in his mind and character, so that they become habitual and natural.
Mankind does not need more outward power. If a new discovery were made of a cheap energy source that would solve the energy crisis, the problems of mankind would not be over. It is not more outward power that man needs; we have had plenty of that in the world. But each new discovery only makes us more destructive, more greedy, and more self-indulgent. These things ruin us. We cannot handle the power properly, because the foundation of a good character is not properly laid.
Most worldly education builds people up the wrong way by laying the foundation on wrong principles. The graduates may be highly successful from a money standpoint, or in gaining worldly renown and honor; but their talents and discoveries only prove to degrade the race even more, because they are turned into selfish channels.
The education that Christ gives starts anew from a fresh foundation: the love of God put in the heart, in place of the old selfish nature. Then comes the daily training in learning how to grow this tender plant of love, and not intrude human ideas and a perverse will.
Moses underwent this training and became the greatest leader in human history, next to Christ. His experience is well described in the following pages (247, 248) from the book Patriarchs and Prophets, by Ellen White:
In slaying the Egyptian, Moses had fallen into the same error so often committed by his fathers, of taking into their own hands the work that God had promised to do. It was not God’s will to deliver His people by warfare, as Moses thought, but by His own mighty power, that the glory might be ascribed to Him alone. Yet even this rash act was overruled by God to accomplish His purposes. Moses was not prepared for his great work. He had yet to learn the same lesson of faith that Abraham and Jacob had been taught—not to rely upon human strength or wisdom, but upon the power of God for the fulfillment of His promises.
And there were other lessons that, amid the solitude of the mountains, Moses was to receive. In the school of self-denial and hardship he was to learn patience, to temper his passions. Before he could govern wisely, he must be trained to obey. His own heart must be fully in harmony with God before he could teach the knowledge of His will to Israel. By his own experience he must be prepared to exercise a fatherly care over all who needed his help.
Man would have dispensed with that long period of toil and obscurity, deeming it a great loss of time. But Infinite Wisdom called him who was to become the leader of his people to spend forty years in the humble work of a shepherd. The habits of caretaking, of self-forgetfulness and tender solicitude for his flock, thus developed, would prepare him to become the compassionate, longsuffering shepherd of Israel. No advantage that human training or culture could bestow, could be a substitute for this experience.
Moses had been learning much that he must unlearn. The influences that had surrounded him in Egypt–the love of his foster mother, his own high position as the king’s grandson, the dissipation on every hand, the refinement, the subtlety, and the mysticism of a false religion, the splendor of idolatrous worship, the solemn grandeur of architecture and sculpture–all had left deep impressions upon his developing mind and had molded, to some extent, his habits and character. Time, change of surroundings, and communion with God could remove these impressions. It would require on the part of Moses himself a struggle as for life to renounce error and accept truth, but God would be his helper when the conflict should be too severe for human strength.
Later on pages 254, 255, the description of the results of his education continues:
The divine command given to Moses found him self-distrustful, slow of speech, and timid. He was overwhelmed with a sense of his incapacity to be a mouthpiece for God to Israel. But having once accepted the work, he entered upon it with his whole heart, putting all his trust in the Lord. The greatness of his mission called into exercise the best powers of his mind. God blessed his ready obedience, and he became eloquent, hopeful, self-possessed, and well fitted for the greatest work ever given to man. This is an example of what God does to strengthen the character of those who trust Him fully and give themselves unreservedly to His commands.
A man will gain power and efficiency as he accepts the responsibilities that God places upon him, and with his whole soul seeks to qualify himself to bear them aright. However humble his position or limited his ability, that man will attain true greatness who, trusting to divine strength, seeks to perform his work with fidelity. Had Moses relied upon his own strength and wisdom, and eagerly accepted the great charge, he would have evinced his entire unfitness for such a work. The fact that a man feels his weakness is at least some evidence that he realizes the magnitude of the work appointed him, and that he will make God his counselor and his strength.
The good news is that this same educational plan is open to every soul, no matter how poor, weak or lowly. It is open to the skilled and gifted, but also to the feeble. It does not require large amounts of money. All who will may enter the college of Christ right where they are, in their daily life. Make a covenant with God today that He will be your Teacher, and that His commands will be your will and duty, and that you are willing to be trained in His class.
Luke 11
9 And I say unto you, Ask [for Him to be your Teacher], and it shall be given you; seek [His education plan], and ye shall find; knock [on the door of His college], and it shall be opened unto you.
Micah 6
8 What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
