As a Christian, Jesus Christ who loved me and died on Calvary to save me through the shedding of his blood is my model. I am so grateful that as a teenager he forgave my sins and made me his child so that the son of the gods is now saved and by his grace heaven bound. I have therefore dedicated my life to help younger people discover the wonderful way to have your cake and eat it- to grow like Jesus.
That is what I mean by “four-square” education. In Luke 2:52 we read “And Jesus grew in stature, in wisdom and in favour with God and man”. I want to encourage SAPS school to aim at helping the children over the next 40 years:
First to grow in stature: The physical development of children is so important and you must work with parents to ensure the children have balanced diet (not always fried rice and chocolate), exercise their bodies, spend time in open air, sleep adequately and protected from mosquitoes; have their health needs promptly attended to etc. the do all their growing when young.
Second, to grow in wisdom: That is where academic excellence comes in so that the kids develop their full intellectual capacity-beyond passing BECE but also their musical, artistic, computer and other catalytic sills. However, wisdom is more than being smart or a “Ned”. Wisdom is a combination of intellectual capacity, appropriate application and a heart that is motivated by the love of God. The book of Proverbs (1:7) says “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” and Job 28; 28 says “The Fear of God is wisdom”
That leads to the third aspect of the 4-square growth of Jesus- “In favour with God”. Educating young ones without bringing them to know Jesus Christ through whom we receive God’s love, grace and favour, is like raising lion cubs in your house because they look like kittens. They grow up to devour everything around them including humans. It is lack of Christ in the heart of our politicians, Judges, Security personnel that have produced one mess we are in today. Education without Christ raises clever devils.
Please help the young ones to find Jesus as Lord, Saviour and Friend and when they grow up they will live differently.
Finally we are told that Jesus grew “in favour with men”. We are social beings and we must train children to relate to others- school mates, siblings, teachers, as they grow up they must learn to serve others and use their privileges as opportunities for servant leadership. I believe that private schools have greater opportunity to do that.
I want to thank you for the privilege to share in your moments of joy as you celebrate your 40th year.
Long live our motherland, and may the good Lord continue to bless the good you are doing in this school.
I thank you.