When we can ignore the skeptics
After years of moving around the country while my father pursued a career in broadcasting, my folks finally settled on an old homestead overlooking a sprawling river valley in the spring of 1963. My brother and I spent many happy summers at the nearby beaches and quickly learned to respect the river's swift currents.
Swimming against the flow makes a good statement on a t-shirt. Facing a real undertow in the societal tide of public opinion is intimidating.
Exodus 14:14 (NASB) The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.
In the early years of homeschooling, I felt much intimidated by the critics. I eventually realized it’s useless to argue with them or worry about their opinions. The best response is to listen to the criticism, smile, and move on. We don't answer to them.
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
Luke 23:34 (NASB)
The devil would like nothing better than to use a good thing to force a wedge into our relationships and tear them apart. We just have to let go of the urge to defend ourselves and let our actions speak for themselves.
Criticism is a great purifier. It’s one way God gives us a gut check on our motives and goals. Sometimes the questions homeschoolers get asked are valid. Why ARE we teaching our children at home? Are our convictions solid enough to live out on the stage of public scrutiny?
Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.
Matthew 11:19b (NASB)
The best recommendation we can receive is when others see the Lord Jesus doing a good thing in our lives. A life lived quietly before God can banish criticism better than any argument we can muster. When people see us walk out our faith, they will know our God is real. Then we can rejoice before the Lord when He takes our meager efforts and blesses them.
When we need to listen
Sometimes criticism is rooted in truth, the reaction of others to an unhealthy attitude they see in us. If we act smug or self-righteous, or if we carry around an air of martyrdom because we stay at home and care for our own kids, others may feel resentful and probably for good reason.
Perhaps in the past we have been prone to flit from one “ministry” or "cause" to another without real direction or commitment. In this case, we are going to have to prove we are serious by stepping up to the new challenge in steadfastness and discipline.
God taught me more through homeschooling than I ever taught my own children.
It’s also important to validate the efforts and love of the many educators that serve in public and private schools. They have a really hard job. We are, after all, co-laborers toward a common goal.
Then there's Noah
Our work with our children, even under the best of conditions, will probably aggravate somebody at some point. Those who aren’t in sympathy with the homeschool movement may feel intimidated by the homeschooler’s role as teacher. Others may feel convicted by a parent’s commitment to his children. Others are just opinionated and need to share that opinion with us.
By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Hebrews 11:7
What we’re doing with our children flows from the same heart response that moved Noah to lead his family to salvation. The ark he built represented his faith and obedience to God’s word. He set his sights on completing the job entrusted to him and ignored the criticism and mockery he undoubtedly experienced. He committed himself to the long haul and kept his eyes on the goal.
In the end, his obedience and toil were rewarded. May God take our small, stumbling steps of faith and empower us to walk in that same obedience.
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