Anointing Oil

​​​by Adam Kronberger / Head of School

Warm, slimy, 5w-30 motor oil dribbled down my forearm as I clumsily grasped the oil filter in my slippery hands. I was in my driveway lying on my back under our car changing the oil after 3,000 miles of hard driving. Despite the inevitable drops of oil staining our driveway and my wardrobe, I am still committed to personally changing our vehicle’s motor oil. Sure, there are plenty of affordable options that could accomplish the task much quicker and cleaner, but there’s nothing quite like doing a job right yourself. I spent hours as a child changing the oil with my dad, just as he did with his dad. I hope to pass this skill on to my son as well, though he isn’t showing much interest, and I’m losing commitment to the process myself.

After Joshua and his peers had led the Israelites into the Promised Land and breathed his last, the Bible states, “there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel” (Joshua 2:10b). What followed were cycles of testing, rebellion, deliverance, and more rebellion. The vital process of sharing the knowledge and relationship with the only true God failed during Joshua’s generation. The result wasn’t pretty. And once Satan learned the effectiveness of such a strategy, it has become one of his key battle plans. In the Screwtape Letters, author C.S. Lewis describes this strategy as one demon writes to his protege:

“And since we cannot deceive the whole human race all the time, it is most important thus to cut every generation off from all others; for where learning makes a free commerce between the ages there is always the danger that the characteristic errors of one may be corrected by the characteristic truths of another.”

So what must the parents of this generation do to succeed in this important transition, preventing a generation that does not know God? Many of today’s leaders are pointing back to a popular quote by English writer Samuel Johnson who said, “people need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.” Today’s culture has an overwhelming amount of available information; much more than our brains could ever process. The desire for the latest new idea can be addictive. Satan’s additional battle plan is to simply confuse the generations with too much information so that nothing significant is transferred. What is needed is daily reminders of who God is. 

The daily routine of Christian schooling provides students an environment to be instructed in the ways of God and how to walk daily in those ways. Foundations are laid, and a constructed Christian worldview is built in each academic discipline brick by brick. Perhaps the most valuable component is not the instruction, but the daily reminding. A generation of parents who partner with Christian teachers on a daily basis will succeed in making sure this next generation knows the Lord.

Time will tell if the motor oil that dirties my hands at each oil change will eventually become a part of my son’s adult routine. More importantly, may the anointing oil of God’s goodness and truth regularly drip down from our hands and lips to our children and our children’s children. 
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– Adam Kronberger / Head of School