By Paul Landowski/ Henri Bouchard – Roland Zumbühl

As you begin your final few years of homeschooling…

Begin now to pray and think about what you plan to do with your life.

To you is the Command and Blessing given, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.  The first part will, Lord willing, be set in motion in a few years, when you look for a lovely young lady to make your wife, and you begin to have children, in God’s providence.  The second part was forced upon our ancestors at Babel.  The third part is what you must begin actively thinking about your part in, right now.

The options available before you are practically limitless.  You may consider every possibility from President of the United States to garbage collector.  Each, if done to the glory of God, with excellence and pleasure before your Maker, is equally worthy of satisfaction.

Yet I would urge you to pursue the higher professions.

Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians comes to mind: But desire you the best gifts…  Paul was speaking to Christians who lived when the Lord was pouring out multiplied signs and wonders, in order to demonstrate to a watching world that the Apostles of Jesus Christ and the new religion of Christianity were, indeed, from God.  Paul was speaking to a congregation of Christians who were exercising all sorts of miraculous gifts, and telling them how to handle that situation; and in that situation one of his instructions was to seek the Best gifts, such as prophecy!

To our modern Western ears, that sounds arrogant and prideful.  No, no, I just want to be humble, live simply, not seek out anything great, or anything that will draw attention to myself.  But Paul is speaking God’s exhortation.  Those Christians were directed by God to seek the gifts that would do the most good for the most people.  Matthew Henry writes:

Covet the best gifts…, either the most valuable in themselves or the most serviceable to others; and these are, in truth, most valuable in themselves, though men may be apt to esteem those most that will raise their fame and esteem highest.  Those are truly best by which God will be most honoured and his church edified.  Such gifts should be most earnestly coveted.  Note, We should desire that most which is best, and most worth.  Grace is therefore to be preferred before gifts; and, of gifts, those are to be preferred which are of greatest use.

Notice that Henry moves directly from Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians—about miraculous gifts—to the application for the Reader, first about one’s eternal security, and then about the work we do in this life (professional or otherwise).

But lest we, seeking the Best gifts, do become arrogant or prideful!, Paul immediately explains that the Best gifts are not best, nay they are not even good, unless they are rooted and grounded in love (thus slaying arrogance and pride in their weak spot).

With this in mind, young men, I encourage you to think of High Callings.

High Callings

Desire the Best gifts.  Desire the Best professions.  Desire the ones that are of the greatest Use, to honor God and to edify his beloved church.

First and foremost, think of being a pastor.  There is no higher calling in this short life than to serve as God’s minister to his beloved bride.  Pastors should not expect to be wealthy in this life, but if they labor faithfully they spend their lifetimes laying up treasures for themselves in heaven, which will last eternally.

Of course, not every man is called to be a pastor.  A man may also be God’s minister to recompense the wicked and protect the faithful as a civil magistrate.  From president or king to mayor or sheriff, men of courage, fearing God, men dealing truly, hating covetousness are God’s ministers for his people’s wealth.  When the rulers are wise, Christians may lead quiet and peaceable lives, in all godliness, and honesty [honor or nobility], [which] is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.  Under this head may be included military officers as well.

After these, you may think of the law and medicine—the law being directly related to justice being done on earth, which is glorifying to God, and medicine being the best way to help your fellow men enjoy good health, which the Lord also taught us to pray for.  In the same vein, the Christian farmer and builder—providing nourishment and shelter—may spend their lives glorifying God by helping their fellow men; and under this head we may fairly include such professions as entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, software developers, clothiers, etc.  A faithful Christian professor or author may also have opportunity to do much good for God’s glory and the edification of the church.

Think of those callings that will have the most influence for good in this world.

The Sort of Man God Uses to Do Great Things

God is able to do all things miraculously all on his own.  Yet in his great providence chooses to use earthly means to bring about his will on this earth, through natural, normal processes.  John Calvin, John Knox, Martin Luther, William Tyndale—all of the leading Reformers were brilliant men, who had been given Excellent educations, and had done well in them—so that they were fit instruments for God to use to pierce the darkness that had overspread his church. They brought light to Europe, and indeed to the whole world by the power of the Holy Spirit.  But they also possessed earthly abilities which they brought to bear in that very work, each being exceptional masters of languages, history, logic, disputation, and rhetoric.

I could go on and on.  Moses, King David, the Apostle Paul, Patrick of Ireland, Alfred the Great, William Wallace, the Puritans, the Founding Fathers of America…  God chooses people to do Great Things to Bless Many People, by His Power.  But when we look back at the people he chose, again and again, the story is about someone who was given extraordinary gifts, and who was diligent about using those gifts that God had given to him.

Seek a great education.  Seek the higher professions.  No matter what profession you finally end up in, you will never regret aiming high, as long as your ultimate aim is for God’s glory.  The things that you learn along the way will prove useful to you in whatever field you may finally settle on.  The farmer-philosopher, such as the United States’ founding fathers, never regretted cultivating intellectual development in his youth.  No, but it only made him a better farmer, a better father and husband, a better churchman, a better citizen; and it made his life the richer.

Remember that the Christian faith is fundamentally a religion of the mind.  The Lord calls us, again and again, in the scriptures to cultivate our minds.  Prepare your minds for action!  Though everyone around us may laud the lowly worker as being the most noble, and deride one who seeks a higher profession, yet I encourage you to strive for doing as great things as God will allow you to do.

As For These Next Few Years…

During these last few years of your education at home, some of you will need to earn money to help support your families (or to begin to provide for your own expenses, which amounts to the same thing).  In that case, trust God’s perfect providence, as He is guiding every decision, and working in your life perfectly to prepare you for whatever he has for your life!  You may have less time for education than others; just trust in God’s goodness.  His plan is perfect for you, and if it isn’t quite what you have in mind, I promise that it is better for you than whatever else you imagine.

For those of you who are blessed with the funds to focus on your education (and if your parents are giving you free housing, clothing, food, and your other necessities, then that’s you!), take advantage of this time.  It will never come again, in all of life.  You have but few years when you are young, when you need not provide for a wife and children, when your intellect is growing strong, but you are not yet required to spend the bulk of your time working to earn a living.  You are still called to work!  But you are given the gift of being allowed to work at Learning (which does not earn you any money while you are working at it)!  This is an inestimable gift.  Perhaps you remember in many of the old books, that being given the opportunity as a young adult to have an excellent education is called an Advantage.  Young man, hear me:  Do not follow after most of the other young men in our society, who reject this Advantage—fools!  Instead, bless God for his kindness to you, and pursue your education with zeal.  You will never get this opportunity back.

Excerpted from, Rhetoric for Reformers, Wisdom Studies Year 1 (in the works).

Thanks for dropping by; please keep us in prayer!