School doesn’t always get off to a good start. So when things don’t go well in school this is an opportunity to call your children to faith in Christ. One of the purposes of all the work is to drive us to Christ and his gospel (Col. 3:17). In order to encourage your children to trust God, you must first encourage them with the gospel message of grace. Colossians 1 teaches that all authorities are established and control by Christ. Thus schoolwork is sent to your children by Jesus. Schoolwork is a wonderful opportunity to teach your kids how God is involved in all the details of life.
So, when your children struggle with schoolwork, your first step is to encourage them to trust God. He didn’t make a mistake. Christ actually ordained that they would have this work to do at this time. Encourage your children to trust God’s wisdom in providing their work for them.
God has not made a mistake in giving the assignment, even if the human teacher did! Schoolwork assignments are opportunities to show just how intimately God is involved in the life of your children. These assignments were handpicked by God, even the challenging ones, especially for your child so that he would look to Christ for the strength and wisdom to accomplish the task. This understanding will serve them well for their life. Your children will have teachers, professors, supervisors, employers who will not always give assignments that are reasonable and fair. Your children need the motivation of the gospel to not become discouraged in these situations. Bringing honor to God is what all of life is about.
Your children need Christ to do their work in a way that honors God. They need to see that their work has been given to them by God so that they will come to trust him for the strength to do their work. True biblical discipline flows from seeing the need for Christ’s grace in all of life.
This opens the lines of communication for your children to talk to you about any difficulties they may face in school. You can talk about what God wants them learn from difficult situations. This will be help to build trust and maintain open communication. It is not just your child and school. It is about seeing God is involved in each part of life, even school.
