Test

Happy Monday!

A school habit brings us today’s word-of-the-week…

TESTS

We all learned to study for tests.

School was easy, really. You learned the lessons, then took the test. Good teachers explained the material well. Good students studied and prepared for the test.

The purpose of the test was to see if you learned the lesson.

If life worked like school it might go something like this:

TEST NEXT TUESDAY.

Covers: Advanced Relationship Challenges (see textbook chapters 5-7)

Study Group: Wednesday & Saturday

Life, it turns out, doesn’t work like school. You’re never completely prepared for the real tests.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. (James 1:2-3)

Did you catch that? The testing produces perseverance.

In Life, The Tests Teach The Lessons

You can study all you want, but following Jesus is a learn-by-doing deal. We’re invited to walk a path on which we can’t know the right steps. We’ll make mistakes, and we’re supposed to learn from them.

So as followers of Jesus we turn the school paradigm on its head. We take the test and do our best. Then, in humility, we ask the Spirit to help us learn the lesson.

Everyone takes the tests of life. They aren’t announced, and they show up whether we’re prepared or not. The choice is whether or not to learn their lessons.

The tragedy isn’t struggling with tests or making mistakes. We all do that. The tragedy is failing to acknowledge mistakes, failing to approach God with humility, failing to learn the lessons.

It’s Monday. Let’s take the tests, make the mistakes, and ask God to help us learn the lessons.

Have a great week!