Will You Be Able to Pass the Test?

When I was in college, the things I dreaded most were the tests, especially final exams. I remember the great sense of relief I always felt during final exam week when the last big test was over. Take great weight, remove from shoulders!

I eagerly looked forward to graduation. Surely that would be the end of all the tests. Was I wrong! I soon learned life is one test after another. Whether it’s being hired for a job and proving you’re able to do the work, getting married and discovering the challenges of being a spouse, or having children and learning parenting is rewarding but also hard work. It's one test after another.

 

There are the trials and tribulations that come with living in a broken, often unpredictable world. What do you do when there’s too much week left at the end of your pay? How do you respond when you get a health diagnosis and it’s not good, with major surgery in your imminent future? What’s your reaction when you’re driving along, minding your own business, and someone slams into your car?

 

We’ve all encountered these “tests.” And most of the time, you can’t study for them. You just have to deal with them as they come. 

 

But adversity and hardships, the things we typically regard as tests, aren’t necessarily all bad. In retrospect we might actually be thankful for them. It was Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who wrote, “Thank you, prison, for having been in my life.” His time in a gulag for people who opposed the communist government proved to be a growing experience for him, both personally and spiritually.

 

The apostle Paul, no stranger to adverse situations, addressed this directly: “…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). 

Another apostle, James, had arrived at the same conclusion. Writing to Jews scattered around the known world, he urged them to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1: 1-4).

 

Just as lifting weights serves to build physical strength, the “weights” of everyday challenges can serve to build us up spiritually. It all depends on how we respond to them, whether we resolve to persevere even when things become so difficult we’re tempted to quit. 

 

No sane person seeks hard times; we don’t enjoy pain and suffering. But believing that “in all things God words for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28), we can face difficulties with confidence and hope, knowing He’s allowing them for a reason.

 

But have you ever considered that success, prosperity, enjoying seasons of life when everything seems perfect also can serve as times of testing – tests that reveal our character?

 

We see it all the time with people who are in the public eye: politicians, entertainers, star athletes, prominent business leaders, even people who are “famous for being famous.” They’re in the news, grabbing headlines. People fawn over them, telling them how wonderful they are. Is it any surprise that some of them develop huge egos, convinced they’re really something?

 

That shouldn’t be an option for followers of Christ, however. The apostle Paul cautioned, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3). In essence, this is saying there’s no room for “divas” in the Lord’s kingdom.  

 

Humility certainly has an attractive quality to it. If someone is accomplished in some area of life, it’s fine to acknowledge that. But flaunting it or overflowing with pride isn’t attractive at all.

 

The Scriptures say how we respond when people speak well of us can become a form of testing. Proverbs 27:21 states this clearly: “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but a man is tested by the praise he receives.” Precious metals like gold and silver are refined under extreme heat, removing the dross and increasing their purity. In a similar way, God can refine us not only through adversity but also through the “heat” of being praised. Do we become puffed up, even insufferable to be around?

 

When I first noticed that verse, I was the editor of a magazine for Christian business and professional people. We had made major changes in the publication, received a number of awards, and readers were responding very favorably. When I traveled or was attending a conference, people would come up to me and say how much they appreciated the magazine and its message about how to live out our faith in the workplace.

 

At first, it was nice to receive such affirmation, but after a while I realized a temptation was lurking. Would I start taking to heart what people were saying and let my head swell up while patting myself on the back? Or would I graciously accept the compliments but immediately redirect them to the Lord, who had given me the skills and passion I was using, along with the opportunity to lead the publication?

 

Our journey through everyday life is filled with tests; not all of them involve unpleasant circumstances. If things are going well for you, perhaps receiving high praise for the work you’re doing or for the family you’re raising, beware. It could be God’s way of saying, “This is a test!”

 

As the apostle James declared, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12).

Can Pleasant Work Be a Nightmare?

A writer (not me) recently asked some of his peers: “Is writing always a pleasant work, or can it become a nightmare sometimes.” This question stirred up a lot of discussion, and I think there are individuals still weighing in on the subject as I write this.

Some responded that for them writing is nothing short of an unrelenting source of endless joy. (I suspect they must have been from Oregon and Colorado, where they’ve legalized those funny cigarettes.) Others argued writing is an arduous, often agonizing task tantamount from squeezing drops of blood from the proverbial turnip. And most who replied fell somewhere in between.

Does your work - or life - sometimes look like this?

It occurred to me that such a question doesn’t apply only to those engaged in the craft of writing and editing. It could be rephrased to apply to any endeavor, ranging from being married and raising children to gardening and participating in a favorite sport: “Is (whatever) always pleasant, or can it be a nightmare sometimes?”

Perhaps the word “nightmare” sounds a bit extreme, but if the question is whether something – any endeavor – is always fun, or whether there are times when it’s difficult, painful, stressful (or whatever adjective you choose to inject), I’d say the realistic answer would be the latter.

When a couple gets married, both groom and bride are starry-eyed. Even though they’ve taken the “better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and in health” vows, in their minds they fully expect Utopia. When a mom and dad greet their newborn, all they can think of is the joy this little one will bring into their lives. They ignore the thousands of messy diapers, spit-up, fevers and crying they’ll have to endure.

Gardens are wonderful when they’re adorned with colorful flowers or ripened vegetables and fruit, but getting those typically requires sweat, dirty hands and achy muscles. And when we watch our favorite college football teams compete on Saturday afternoons, we know little of the countless hours these gridiron gladiators have spent lifting weights, running drills, banging heads and cramming playbook schemes into their minds.

So if someone were to ask me if any worthwhile endeavor was pleasant, or sometimes painful, I’d wholeheartedly reply, “Yes, yes it is!”

The spiritual life is the same. That’s why the apostle James wrote, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

And just in case we still didn’t get the message, the apostle Paul also made the declaration, “we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:3-5).

For me, writing is one of my passions, my vocational calling, but it’s still hard work. Especially when I’m up against a deadline (or more than one), and it feels like, as one noted author described it, I’m sitting at the keyboard straining until beads of blood appear on my forehead.

Maybe that’s why the cliché, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” endures to this day. Because it’s true. When faced with adversity, when we’re tempted to wonder whether the reward is worthy of the struggle, so many choose to give up. Sadly, for some, when success was standing just around the bend.

So at this time of year, when “nightmares” are brought to our mind by the presence of costumed ghosts and goblins and spooks and witches and zombies, maybe the real “nightmare on Elm Street” is the decision to quit when victory was so close. 

Learning Experiences

It’s sometimes said that experience is the best teacher. Some lessons learned through experiences can’t be grasped in any other way. That’s probably why so many parents find themselves on the verge of panic when their teenagers take their first solo drives. Even if you have complete confidence in them, there’s no way to prepare them for the unexpected. Only experience can do that.

In gaining experience,
remember - there will be a test.

One of the problems with having Mr. Experience as a primary teacher, however, is it includes so many tests in the curriculum. In fact, there’s rarely time to “study” for these tests – they present themselves as “pop quizzes.”

I remember the time when I was a wet-behind-the-ears college freshman, driving to school after being initiated into the local fraternity. I was wearing the required freshman “beanie” (orange and blue, if you need to know) and baby bib bearing the fraternity’s name, all part of a very tame hazing tradition. What I was thinking about I can’t recall – maybe the girl who would be sitting next to me in English class – but just ahead of me a car suddenly slowed dramatically.

An earlier accident had left a flooded street from a broken fire hydrant. Too late I noticed how rapidly my car was closing in on the other vehicle. I slammed on the brakes, but too late. I learned a quick lesson in hydroplaning and a moment later the hood of my car crumpled upward as it collided with the trunk of the auto in front of it. A practical but costly lesson in the principle of physics that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.

Thankfully no one was injured, other than my self-esteem. My embarrassment was magnified by the foolish-looking beanie and bib I was wearing for the occasion. I had flunked the test that experience had presented, but did learn an important lesson: “When driving, pay attention, dumb college student!”

No one hops on a bicycle for the first time and remains upright, perfectly balanced. There’s the wobbling as you cling to the handlebars, at least a few flops, and some tentative pedaling until you get the hang of it.  With experience though, you get better at it. At least most people do.

The first time I attempted public speaking I was a nervous wreck. Over time, and with experience, I found myself still nervous before speaking, but didn’t make the fool of myself that I feared. (At least that’s my opinion. Members of my audiences might beg to differ.)

But it’s the tests involved in the experience process that stand out. Often they’re difficult, and we might fail, but experience serves to help us in doing better the next time. This reality applies to newlyweds, suddenly discovering married life isn’t the piece of cake it seemed to be at the wedding. Similarly, first-time parents, no matter how enraptured they are by their new addition, find having a baby isn’t always the cute, cuddly experience they had imagined it would be. They, and infant, are learning on the fly.

Maybe that’s why we’re advised in James 1:2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and compete, not lacking anything.”

Expanding on this idea later in the chapter it says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under the trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

The experiences of everyday life – along with the tests that accompany them – are often difficult, even painful. But they can be tools God uses to shape us into the people He intends for us to be. The fires of adversity typically are not anything we’d have sought for ourselves, or for our loved ones. But through these tests and the experience of persevering through them we become better, stronger, and hopefully more faithful people. For that we can truly say, “Thank you, Teacher.”