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Today, we focus on education, and I dare say, if you lack education, you are like a man living in darkness. Formal education is the systematic acquisition of academic knowledge or training that opens the doors of opportunity to achieve your potential to the full.
Young folks should understand that personal development cannot even happen without education. You need quality education to get by in life. To get through life without education is to put a bar on your progress. I do not wish that for you.
Education enables you to actualise what the Good Lord has deposited in you, to serve him and humanity in such a way that the kingdom of God is advanced and people are edified. When you are not educated, you are hindered ab initio. There is little you can achieve and your social mobility is hampered. You play little part in the vocations that could have empowered you and your family.
In working around professions like accountancy, banking, engineering, medicine, architecture, academia, pharmacy and the military, you function as messenger, janitor, gateman or driver, at best. You are the one who carries the boss’s bag. If you don’t have education, you don’t have anything. Unless the Lord has mercy on you, it is likely you might end up poor, and a parasite in society.
You may end up on welfare, requiring food stamps to feed. The dirt poor are usually found in soup kitchens, under bridges and in traffic, begging for alms. The stark illiterate has little to contribute to society except to disturb its peace by engaging in criminal activities. Unless they are lucky to be nurtured well, are naturally disciplined or brought up in the way of the Lord, they may not make any headway.
The uneducated are the chaps terror groups recruit for their nefarious activities. What can save the illiterate is functional education that makes them employable, easy to lead and capable of actualising their modest vision of becoming part of the collective vision of society.
Illiteracy does not answer to prayer but education. When a man or woman is educated, they are more easily used by God. The harvest field is in dire need of labourers of different competences. Paul, the educated Apostle, did more exploits for the kingdom of God than the unlearned Peter and his fishermen brothers.
No illiterate politician can be President of any country in the modern world; they are hindered in that area because of their lack of this vital intellectual capital. Nations with predominantly illiterate populations produce no inventors, writers, philosophers, astronauts, academic giants, millionaire entrepreneneurs, blue-chip companies, computer geeks, great preachers, orchestra conductors, first rate athletes and technology buffs. Instead, witchcraft, superstition and voodoo shape their world view; because their intellect is undeveloped, they consult shamans for petty medical challenges like malaria or headache, rather than go to hospital.
In fact, as if it is a sin to seek medical attention, people in such dark societies pray against sicknesses that could take them to hospital. Deliverance ministries thrive in the very poor, illiterate communities and among the wretched because everything is spiritualised. Routine medical check-up is taboo in illiterate societies, where they attribute every single health problem to spiritual attacks, requiring spiritual solutions by voodoo priests, marabouts or pastors. This warped mindset drives people deeper into idolatry, which offends God and complicates their woes.
Knowledge is power; education is the light that beams it. The uneducated man or woman has little relevance in the modern economy, which is now knowledge-based.
Jesus said, “There will always be the poor among you” (Jn. 12:8). That is correct because there are people who have no intellectual capacity. They are not naturally inclined to academic pursuits. They have challenges academically, because their ability to learn is limited. This is not about dyslexia. Just plain mental weakness; not that they are imbeciles.
Such people drop out of school because they cannot cope with the rigours of learning. But if they have a natural aptitude for handwork, their dexterity could help them train as masons, mechanics, electricians, plumbers, drivers, security guards, etc. Such people, with little training, could serve well in any branch of the armed services as infantry men, cavalry men or sharp shooters; they could be talented musicians, artistes, athletes, boxers, wrestlers, grave diggers and any vocation that is driven by manual labour. Yet, all of these vocations need some level of IQ, which everyone has anyway.
Even at that, they hardly get to the top echelon of their vocations because of limited education or mental laziness. You cannot be an army general or police commander if you do not attain a certain level of education. Leadership positions requiring intellectual capacity can only be occupied by the educated. The Bible says, “In the last days, knowledge will fill the earth” (Is. 11:9). Of course, we are seeing that prophecy come to pass. The spread of formal knowledge and the awareness of the existence of the living God and Jesus Christ are now everywhere on Planet Earth. The knowledge we have today is far greater than what any past generation experienced. I have devoted this much time to dwell on the importance of knowledge in the edification of the total man because it is the key to modern advancement.
Weekend Spice: You were created to be a creator – Lolu Ogunmade
Ok folks, let’s do it again next Friday. Stay motivated.
•Ayodeji is an author, conference speaker/pastor and life coach. He could be reached at [email protected] and 09059243004 (SMS only)
