honors response 8

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

1 Corinthians 10:13


In Chapter 10 of Living the Sabbath, Wirzba seems convinced that our educational system today is not fulfilling God's will.  That we are people who are fully devoted to ourselves and only ourselves.  He states, "For the most part, our educational aspirations have a self-serving focus that encourages us to disregard the particular needs of the place we live in, given the need to 'grow the economy,' even if that means destroying or degrading local habitats and communities." (133)  Now, I can't really disagree with this statement. I do think that today's society has put an extreme emphases on education in order to get somewhere with our lives.  As time has progressed, education has become more and more important.  It seems as if you can't get a decent job without having a good education. So I agree with Wirzba on the terms that in today's world, nearly everyone is focused on themselves and how to get ahead of everyone else.

I believe, however, that Christians are called to do the opposite.  It is stated throughout the entire Bible that we as Christians will encounter situations in which we are tempted to follow the ways of the world, such as focusing on ourselves in our education, instead of following the ways of the Lord and focusing on Him.  In 1 Corinthians 10:13, God says that we will be put into temptation, but it won't be anything that we can't handle.  He says that He will provide a way out of the temptation.

We are given such a great opportunity to spread God's light in the selfishness of this world.  1 Corinthians 15:10 says, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."  If we go into our classes with the mindset that God has gracefully given us the opportunity to be educated and that we will work as hard as we can for Him and to please Him, then I think that we can further God's kingdom.  We can cause questions to be asked.  We may even eventually have the opportunity to change the mindset of some of those going through the education systems down the line.  But it all comes down to our mindset.  Are we doing it for ourselves and to further our lives, or are we doing it for God and to further His kingdom?