"The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light." Mt 4:16 NKJV

First and most importantly, Jesus brought the light of salvation to all mankind. But one of the enduring benefits of His kingdom is His impact on learning and education. The word university began with those who believed that God created the universe; therefore, His ways must be studied and known. Martin Luther highlighted from the New Testament the priesthood of all believers. In the process, he changed education because he taught that every person needs to be capable of reading and writing so they can study the Scriptures for themselves. This ushered in a goal of worldwide literacy for everyone in a society. In America, the first law to call for mass universal education was announced in Massachusetts in 1647. It was named, believe it or not, "The Old Deluder Satan Act." Its wording goes: "It being one chief product of that Old Deluder Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures...and to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers." This is a lovely idea that everybody should learn: that ignorance is the devil's tool, and that God is the God of truth.

In nation after nation, Christian missionaries discovered languages that had not been written. So in acts of extraordinary sacrifice, they dedicated their lives to the chore. They assembled the first dictionaries. They penned the first grammars. They formed the first alphabets. And the first significant proper name written in numerous languages was the name Jesus.

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"I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness." Jn 12:46 NKJV

John Ortberg writes: "In 1780 a Jesus-follower in Great Britain named Robert Raikes could not stand the cycle of poverty and ignorance that was destroying little children, a whole generation. He said, 'The world marches forward on the feet of little children.

So he took children who had to work six days a week in squalor. Sunday was their free day.

He said, 'I'm going to start a school for free to teach them to read and write and learn about God! He did, and he called it Sunday school.

Within fifty years, there were 1.5 million children being taught by 160,000 volunteer teachers who had a vision for the education of a generation. Sunday school was not a privatized, optional program for church kids.

It was one of the great educational volunteer triumphs of the world. The alphabet of the Slavic peoples is called Cyrillic. It was named for Saint Cyril, who was a missionary to the Slavs and discovered they had no written alphabet. Thus he created one for them so they would be able to read about Jesus in their own language...A Methodist missionary,

Frank Laubach, cited an extraordinary encounter with God about a century ago that put him on a mission to lift the world out of ignorance. He began a worldwide literacy movement. The phrase 'Each one teach one' flows out of the extraordinary life of this man.

He travelled to more than a hundred countries and led to the development of primers in 313 languages. He became known as 'the apostle to the illiterates.'"

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"You are precious to me." Isa 43:4 NLT

Guess who said, "You are precious to me?" God. So don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

Why is this important? Because

understanding who you are as a person and genuinely believing that you merit love and attention from another person is essential to your self-worth. The capability to convey that successfully and in a considerate manner is essential for any healthy, mutually satisfying relationship. A sense of self-worth is not arrogance. It helps you to set boundaries and guarantees that no matter who you meet, those boundaries will never be compromised.

Often when we feel used in relationships, it's because we have permitted those boundaries to be crossed. Or worse, we have never thought about where the boundaries should be. The way to prevent this situation is to be clear about who you are and what you are willing to do in a relationship. Disregarding the truth about another person, or yourself, may be okay temporarily, but over time, it usually leads to disaster. With a solid foundation of knowing who you are and what you represent, you will possess the bravery to ask the right questions and discern the answers. You will acquire information and evidence that help you realize who a person really is and if they fit into your life. You will be truthful with yourself and others about who you are, your needs, and the way you want to live your life. Outside your relationship with God, there is no other more important relationship than the one you have with yourself. God says, "You are precious to me."

Believe it, and live accordingly.

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