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True Education
The Place of Love
Love, the basis of creation and of redemption, is the basis of true
education. This is made plain in the law that God has given as the
guide of life. The first and great commandment is, “You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your strength, and with all your mind.”
Luke 10:27
. To love
Him, the infinite, omniscient One, with the whole strength, mind,
and heart, means the highest development of every power. It means
that the image of God is to be restored in mind and soul.
Like the first is the second commandment—“You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:39
. The law of love calls for
the devotion of body, mind, and soul to the service of God and
humanity. This service, while making us a blessing to others, brings
the greatest blessing to ourselves. Unselfishness underlies all true
development. Through unselfish service every faculty receives the
highest cultivation. More and more fully we become partakers of
the divine nature.
Since God is the source of all true knowledge, the first object of
education is to direct our minds to His own revelation of Himself.
Adam and Eve received knowledge through direct communion with
God, and they learned of Him through His works. All created things,
in their original perfection, were an expression of the thought of
God. To Adam and Eve nature was teeming with divine wisdom. But
by transgression the human race was cut off from learning of God
through direct communion, and, to a great degree, through His works.
The earth, marred and defiled by sin, reflects but dimly the Creator’s
glory. Nature still speaks of her Creator, yet these revelations are
partial and imperfect, and in our fallen state, with weakened powers
and restricted vision, we are incapable of interpreting it correctly.
We need the fuller revelation of Himself that God has given in His
written Word.
The Holy Scriptures are the perfect standard of truth, and as
such should be given the highest place in education. To obtain an
education worthy of the name, we must receive a knowledge of God,
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the Creator, and of Christ, the Redeemer, as they are revealed in the
sacred Word.