Homemaking Mondays: Teaching Wisdom

Welcome to Homemaking Mondays! 

I would like to share a bit about teaching.  

As we all know the school is beginning for many or has just begun for some.  

As I prepare to begin homeschooling my children their formal lessons.  I pause and consider all that will be a part of what they learn.  

In a world where so many try to cram as much knowledge and information in as possible...they forget something very important.  Wisdom. 

Proverbs 4:

v7"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding."

v 11"I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.

v13Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

^v14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

^v15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away."

^v18 "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

^v19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

^v20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

^v21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

^v22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

^v23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

^v24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

^v25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

^v26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

^v27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil."

We are living in a time where gnosticism/ mysticism has permeated and saturated much of what we know.  It is in the school systems, in the business world, in the religious world, and in what is known as christianity.  True biblical christianity is opposed to it.  Gnosticism is nothing short of the quest for man in his own understanding to know things.  Ever learning but never coming to the Truth. 

GNOS'TIC, noun nostic. [Latin gnosticus; Gr. to know.]

The Gnostics were a sect of philosophers that arose in the first ages of christianity, who pretended they were the only men who had a true knowledge of the christian religion. They formed for themselves a system of theology, agreeable to the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, to which they accommodated their interpretations of scripture. They held that all natures, intelligible, intellectual and material, are derived by successive emanations from the infinite fountain of deity. These emanations they called oeons. These doctrines were derived from the oriental philosophy.

Colossians 2:8  

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

I'm sure you've heard the "think for yourself", "use your own words", "truth is within you", "listen to your heart".  These are all phrases that bring with it the gnostic ideals.
It points you to think that through your own reasoning and understanding that you can "know" things ...and that one can have true wisdom outside of the Lord and the Bible.  

Psalm 119: 102-105

"I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

True wisdom is only found in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and His word: the Bible. When you have that basis, and teach your children that basis then there is a solid foundation with which to build truth on.  To lead your children to the wisdom that only God can give is what is most important.  Yes reading, writing, and arithmetic are all very important!  BUT and this is a big but...you don't have to feed them all the things the world does for them to learn these things.  You don't have to fill their minds and time with things that are dishonouring to the Lord for them to be wise, knowledgeable, and to be able to function in the "real world".

Seek the Lord yourself....be wise...consider what you set before your children whether you homeschool or not.  What are they learning?  Are they learning truth and wisdom, or are they just being subjected to "everything" so they can later decide for themselves?  As I have said before, you need to as a parent shelter your children.  From error, from lies, from those who would turn your children from the very simple truth that is in Christ Jesus the Lord.  That means not letting them read things that are untrue, that are full of evolution, that are full of idolatry or witchcraft or yes, humanism.  I remember when the Lord showed me this verse:

1 Samuel 15:23
"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king."

It totally opened up my eyes to many of the more subtle things that were laced through books and activities.  Rebellion isn't always in your face...it is just building up the "self will" of an individual against others.  It's humanism...putting the "human spirit" above God.  Now everyone loves to hear about heroes and heroins...but consider the attitudes and actions of characters do they honour the Lord?  Are they rubbing off on your children? do you see your children emulating them?  When I saw this connection...I removed certain things from our home and saw a huge change in the character and attitude of my children.  It's never to late to remove harmful things from your children's lives and learning times.

1 Timothy 6: 20-21

"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen."

So as I consider what comes in my home and into our homeschool days...I think.  Will this lead them to true wisdom?  or will it just lead to human knowledge.  For there is no end of "learning" and books.  In the end...it's not about all you know...it's about who you know. 

When you know the Lord and His word, you have the foundation to be able to sift through what is beneficial and what is not in this world.  To be able to hate the false ways, and to avoid them.

You can teach your children all the needed skills of this life without subjecting them to the "culture" of gnosticism in this world.   This next verse is good for both fathers and mothers. 

Ephesians 6:4

"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

Let the Word of God (Jesus Christ) lead you as you learn.  Let Him be the light of your path, and not the ways of this world.  The world leads you to yourself...to self sufficiency, to being your "own god"... not in humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may lift you to wisdom and understanding and salvation for your soul.  

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer