The Pursuit of Higher Education

Everest is the world's tallest mountain, with a peak soaring 29,032 feet above sea level. By locals, she is referred to as the "Goddess Mother of the World" and in Sanskrit "Peak of Heaven."[1] For others, she represents the highest achievement man can obtain. The pursuit of higher education is likewise the same in that students scale the mountains of academia to receive a degree showcasing that they have mastered a specific field of study. In America, Hmong people have the opportunity to pursue multiple avenues of higher education ranging from an undergraduate degree to a postgraduate degree. For many Hmong people, higher education is a means of alleviating generational poverty and giving honor to the family clan. As followers of Christ, how are we to view higher education? Is higher education the source of our success, wealth, and identity? Lets see what Scripture says.

In Matthew 16:24-25 Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." In the kingdom of God, the way we understand the world is flipped upside right by Jesus's words. Jesus says that to truly live, one must lose their life in this world because it is only when we let go of our pursuits, wants, desires then can we receive everlasting life in Jesus Christ. According to Erik Raymond, everlasting life is not simply living forever but a life that is full and abundant in the happiness, satisfaction, and freedom of the gospel.[1]

In light of Jesus's words, a similar sentiment can be said of our pursuit of higher education. Education is first and foremost, a tool that we as Christians use for the advancement and purposes of God's kingdom. When we use higher education solely for the purposes of our own ambitions, we have lost sight of our true calling and fall into the sin of the unfaithful and evil servant (Matthew 25:14-30).

Again Peter tells us we are to "set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13) and "conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile" (1 Peter 1:17). For "all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you be in the lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!" (2 Peter 3:11-12).

Peter's words are clear here. We are to live in fear of God as his next return will be for the judgment and destruction of the world. God is merciful but he is also just and he will judge both the righteous and the wicked. This warning should remove any un-biblical views of who God is and how we are to conduct ourselves in our brief time in this world.

Christian philosopher and former atheist C.S. Lewis explains that the Bible's idea of success is God's acknowledgment of you. Below is an excerpt from his sermon, The Weight of Glory.

"Perhaps it seems rather crude to describe glory as the fact of being "noticed" by God. But this is almost the language of the New Testament. St. Paul promises to those who love God not, as we should expect, that they will know Him, but that they will be known by Him (I Cor. viii.3). It is a strange promise. Does not God know all things at all times? But it is dreadfully reechoed in another passage of the New Testament. There we are warned that it may happen to any one of us to appear at last before the face of God and hear only the appalling words: "I never knew you. Depart from Me." In some sense, as dark to the intellect as it is unendurable to the feelings, we can be both banished from the presence of Him who is present everywhere and erased from the knowledge of Him who knows all. We can be left utterly and absolutely outside—repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored. On the other hand, we can be called in, welcomed, received, acknowledged. We walk every day on the razor edge between these two incredible possibilities."[2]

For most Hmong Christians, this means little to nothing. It is the now that most are concerned about. Therefore, in a Hmong Christian's pursuit of higher education, it should and always be for the glory of God, and to be acknowledged by God is the greatest glory they can achieve.

As children of God, our Heavenly Father is thrilled when we rejoice in his blessings, including our degrees that we received by His grace, but equally true is that we have been entrusted to use these gifts for His glory and His purposes alone. These purposes can be from a Christian nurse showing God's love to a dying patient or a Christian teacher sharing the gospel with their student, to even a Christian janitor who cleans for the well being of the community. God is not limited in His purposes and plans for us but its we who have to be willing to submit. May the pursuit of higher education lead you ever closer to the Lord and not away to the false glory that the world has to offer.

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Footnotes:

[1] Erik Raymond, "What Does It Mean To Have Everlasting Life?" The Gospel Coalition, last modified March 19, 2013, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/erik-raymond/what-does-it-mean-to-have-eternal-life/.

[2] Wilfrid Noyce, Norgay Tenzing, and Stephen Venables, et al., "Mount Everest," Britannica, last modified February 9, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Everest.

[3] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (New York: HarperOne, 1980), 41-42.

References:

Lewis, C.S. The Weight of Glory. New York: HarperOne, 1980.

Noyce, Wilfrid., Norgay Tenzing, and Stephen Venables, et al. "Mount Everest." Britannica. Last modified February 9, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/place/Mount-Everest.

Raymond, Erik. "What Does It Mean To Have Everlasting Life?" The Gospel Coalition. Last modified March 19, 2013. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/erik-raymond/what-does-it-mean-to-have-eternal-life/.

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Bao Vang is a wife and mom of two amazing daughters. When Bao's not serving her local church, she likes to write and spend time with her family. Bao received her MA in Theological Studies from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and she is currently working on a PhD in Bible Exposition at John W. Rawlings School of Divinity at Liberty University. Bao is also a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Biblical Literature.