Happiness or Holiness?

September, 2001

Deut 28:11 "And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body."

Ps 128:3-4 "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, within your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord."

All around us the signs of school are starting to show. As I write this letter, the neighborhood kids are already starting to head out for the bus at dawn, and this past week was the final week for the town swimming pool. By the time you read this, your own school will likely be in full swing too (though not at the crack of dawn!)

Most of you have just spent a considerable amount of energy planning lessons and activities designed to train your children into new levels of growth and maturity by year's end. Did you ever stop to wonder what God is planning for you this year?

God's blessings can go completely unnoticed, or even considered a curse, whenever we are not "on the same page" as Him. Often times, we are looking in the wrong direction for God's blessings. The key is to adjust our hearts to His.

Most home schoolers have gotten well past the common view of children as weekend entertainment and are firmly embracing their responsibility before God to train them. However, do we fully understand the blessing that each child is?

As families, we are hopelessly (and hopefully!) interconnected. Multi-generational family lines are channels for both blessings and curses. Caring for its widows is the responsibility of the family first. When God trains a husband, his wife and likely his children are along for the ride. For headship reasons, when God trains a wife, He will most likely use her husband as an instrument. Moreover, we all know that it is through our hands as parents that God trains our children.

My question for you today is this: What part of having children is the blessing? Is this really a statement about our happiness having opened our homes to care for these little ones? The pursuit of happiness can destroy marriages and families. Is it important to be happy? This notion is touted in society everywhere we turn. My sense is that many Christians also equate "Blessing" with "Happiness". I was one.

I submit to you that the real blessing in childrearing, as in the blessing of marriage, or employment, or any situation where submission to authority is involved; is in the character growth that MUST take place in us as we seek to diligently train them up and impress His laws upon their hearts. The blessing is the holiness that God develops in us, as we are obedient to Him.

All those lesson plans and our commitment to educate our children at home are part of our obedience to the Lord with respect to our children. When we pursue this with the whole of our hearts, God is able to give us the real blessing of our children: Holiness.

God knows that you will never be the same after this year… and either will your children! May God bless you and your family with holiness as you seek to honor Him in your home school this year.


Brett Adams
Chairman, CHEACT

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