Our Schools Don't Need Jesus!

Our Schools Don’t Need Jesus!

It’s 3:34 a.m. as I am writing this.  I’m probably too tired for this rant to be advised. However, here it is.  I’ve noticed lately several of my Facebook friends saying that our schools need Jesus.  I disagree wholeheartedly.  For far too long we as parents and as a society at large have expected the government (our schools) to give our children what is our responsibility to give.  Our schools have proven themselves inept at integrating simple multiplication into our children’s lives.  I shudder to imagine the mess they would make with Christ.

Our schools do not need Jesus.  Our homes need Jesus.  I look around me and see parents teaching children that Jesus is a priority only when He is convenient to our schedules and our bank accounts.  I see parents teaching that ball games, birthday parties, and drama club are all ample reasons to forsake the sacred assembly of the Body of Christ.  I see parents teaching children that God comes first on Sunday’s and Wednesdays for an hour and fifteen minutes (we can’t tolerate a service if it runs longer than that) but not Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.  We don’t need Jesus in our schools.  We need Jesus in the foremost position of our priorities.

Our days are spent beholding Facebook or our TVs instead of beholding the Lamb of God.  Even during worship services and Bible studies we have phones in front of our faces.  We don’t need Jesus in our schools.  We need Him in our hands in the form of our Bibles (He is the Word of God).  I’m sure some of us really are looking at our Bible App during church, (but many are checking Facebook when the preaching fails to keep our interest).  I know this because I see you thumb-scrolling for twenty-five straight minutes and if you had ever tolerated reading that much of the Bible in one sitting your life would be different than it is now.  Can you imagine what would happen if our children saw us reading our Bibles as much as they saw us reading our phones?  What would our future look like if we shared Christ with them as often as we share posts on Facebook.  Dare to think of a day when they saw us searching God’s Word for His Truth with the same vigor we scour Pinterest for art and craft projects.  We don’t need Jesus in our schools.  We need Jesus in our thoughts and on our lips.

Our pulpits are filled with men and women (unfortunately in the latter case) who are more worried about attendance numbers, offering totals, and how people feel than preaching the Word.  Our sermons focus on how to have good lives rather than the Good Shepherd and eternal life.  We refuse to rebuke and exhort as we should because then someone might get offended and leave.  We don’t need Jesus in our schools.  We need Jesus in our pastors and elders.  Our deacons are lazy and more concerned with acting as a board of administrators than serving the body as they should.  Our worship leaders are concerned with sounding relevant to the unsaved instead of bolstering the Word as they steer Christ’s Church in worship.  Our youth directors are more concerned with developing programs and content that is popular with young people than developing disciples and freeing them from the popular culture.  We don’t need Jesus in our schools.  We need Jesus in the leaders of our local church congregations.

Were educators to “put Jesus back in our schools” they could not do so legally without placing him on equal ground with Mohammed, Buddha, Brahma, Gia, or any other deity that is the focus of any other religion.  We as parents certainly have no room to complain about that.  We place Him on equal ground with Santa Claus, finances, television schedules, spouses, jobs, sports, houses, automobiles, happiness, education, and any one of the countless other things we spend our time, energy and effort on instead of Him.  He deserves more.  He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  We don’t need Jesus in our schools.  We need Jesus in our living rooms.  We need Jesus in our hearts when we lie down and when he rise up.  We need Jesus in words when we go in and when we come out.  We need Jesus in our actions as we set about our days.

We don’t need Jesus in our schools.  We need Jesus in our children.  And only we can introduce them to Him.  If we do this they will carry Jesus with them when they go to school and no one would be able to take them from His hand (the change in possessive pronouns was intentional).

Yours In Christ,

R. Scott Thomas, Chief Among Sinners