LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

I was, and still am, weird. Most will agree with my self-assessment. Here is yet another way in which I fulfill that description.

I love tests.

When I was in school, I loved tests. They were an opportunity for me to prove myself. They were a way in which I could qualify myself. I have since learned the terrible dysfunction of that. But nevertheless, I still love tests. Today, at my age, my favorite tests are difficult golf holes and fishing after a cold front. They still provide me opportunities to prove myself as well as improve myself and grow.

However, there are many tests that I hate. Financial loss is an unpleasant test. Pain and suffering are hardships we’d rather not endure. There are many such tests in multiple areas of our lives, and we tend to see them as an interruption to what we consider normal, so therefore we hate them.

However, tests are designed to prove us and improve us. Our insecurities may cause us to hate tests because we doubt we have anything to prove, or that we will be proven insufficient. Security embraces tests. Our pride may cause us to hate tests because we don’t think we need to improve. Humility embraces tests.

Jesus loves to initiate tests because He loves us. He desires to prove us and improve us.

In John 6, when Jesus saw the crowds of people coming towards Him, he tested His disciple Philip. He asked him where they might be able to buy enough bread to feed all the people.

Jesus said this to test Philip, for Jesus knew what he would do.

Take a look at the last part of that statement. Jesus knew what He would do.

I wonder if my attitude towards tests would be different if I fully trusted that God knows what He is doing?

Maybe I focus too much on the nature of the test rather than the nature of God who designed the test.

It’s likely that I complain about the difficulty of the test before I consider the benefits of the test.

Life is filled with tests. The life that is filled with the Holy Spirit sees every test as a means by which God proves us and improves us.

James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Embrace the test.

Pastor John