Over the past few weeks students at all grades and levels of the educational system have been taking all sorts of TESTS. For some it was the Common Entrance exams. For those in high or secondary school it was the CXC, SAT or promotion exams. And for our college level students their TEST came at the end of the long semester. I know of very few people who like taking TESTS. They can be a source of stress. After all so much is riding on them. Our sense of worth and value is often judged by how we perform on TESTS. I don’t think anybody goes to take a TEST and beforehand decides to intentionally fail. Everybody wants to pass! Yet not everybody passes the TEST. Based on that one TEST result the course of our lives is set. Which secondary school do we go to? Do we get promoted? Is it summer school? But instead of seeing TESTS as events for us to pass and not fail, might we see them as means by which we are being PERFECTED. So our FF for today is TESTING IS PERFECTING!
Know anybody who’s PERFECT? I’m yet to meet any human being who is. But there are a few persons who think that they are PERFECT. But let’s not burst their bubbles! In a real sense each of us is working towards PERFECTION. There are some of us who are working to undo some flaws that we see in ourselves that push others away. Some of us may be trying to improve our physical selves by changing our eating habits and shedding a few pounds. Others may be trying to gain control over our tendency to get angry quickly. And there are those who are aiming to refine their social skills so that they’re more approachable. At the end of the day we’re all working at PERFECTING ourselves. It’s a process and there’s no short cut.
But the only way for us to know if the process of PERFECTING is in fact progressing is through TESTING. How else do we know if we are PERFECTING our tendency to be impatient if our patience is not TESTED? How can we celebrate that we have the upper hand over a deadly addiction and are back in control of our lives unless we are TESTED along that same line? If you say that we’ve really forgiven that person and no longer have any ill feelings then the real TEST will be how you react the next time you run into each other. But our focus ought not to be on whether we pass or fail. Instead, if we focus on the thought that TESTING IS PERFECTING, then when the TEST comes we see it as an opportunity that God is using to further PERFECT us. So the handshake may have been hard to do this time around. But guess what at least with this TEST you shook the hands of the person you said you never wanted to see again. Who knows next time, it may be an embrace. You put $300 on the credit card buying clothes you hardly wear even though you promised yourself that you wouldn’t spend a cent. But the last total was $500 and because you’re being PERFECTED the next time it may go down to $200. Why? Because TESTING IS PERFECTING!
There’s no need for us to deliberately go looking for TESTS. That’s asking for trouble! It is God who is PERFECTING us and so it is God who is also TESTING us. So until the day we die, God will continue to PERFECT by allowing us to be TESTED. Hear how the Psalmist puts it, “The LORD will PERFECT that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.” (Psalm 138:8). And we have the assurance that, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which began a good work in you will PERFECT it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) God’s TESTING IS for our PERFECTING. So with each TEST that God sends, think not of simply about if you pass or fail. Instead see it for what it is, an instrument in the hands of God – TESTING IS PERFECTING!
Mikie Roberts (Rev)
Here’s the link for the blog. Join in the discussions.
http://moravians.net/serendipity/index.php?/categories/1-Friday-Focus
