Many of us are at the beginning of a new school year, for ourselves, or for our children or students. The New Church has always placed great value on education, because of the many teachings in the Writings about the importance of knowledge and truth. We can’t get to heaven simply by saying that we believe in the Lord, but by learning truth from Him and living by it.
Nothing is more important for us than to know what is true. When we know what is true — and know it in such a way that it cannot be perverted — it cannot be infused with corrupt desires and do deadly harm. What should we take more to heart than our eternal life? If we destroy our soul during bodily life, do we not destroy it forever?
Secrets of Heaven 2588.8
It is up to us to learn truths from the Word or from sermons, to store them in memory, and to think about them. Our intellect then draws on these truths in our memory, truths we have thought about, to teach our will, that is, to tell us what we should do. This is our primary means of reformation.
Divine Providence 233.7
When the Lord makes us new He first of all supplies us with the truths of faith, for without the truths of faith we do not know who the Lord is, what heaven is, or what hell is.… Until we do know these things no one can know what good is.
Secrets of Heaven 4538.3
During our school years we focus especially on learning, and after graduation we focus more on using what we have learned. Yet many of us who have made the shift from school to work have discovered that when we are on the job we continue learning, sometimes learning much more useful things than we can get in a classroom. We need ongoing education to progress in our professional life, and we need ongoing education for our spiritual progress as well.
Angels recognize that what they know is nothing compared to what they still have to learn.
Angels themselves, who enjoy the greatest possible light from understanding and wisdom … recognize and admit that all their learning, their understanding, and their wisdom is nothing compared to the Lord's infinite knowledge and therefore that theirs is ignorance…. What we do not know amounts to infinitely more than what we do know.
Secrets of Heaven 1557.2
I am grateful for many opportunities to go back to school, back to the Word, and back to the Lord to keep on learning more that can make me more useful, more compassionate and more loving.