May 29, 1991
Summer school at Bible College means cramming one full 3-credit semester into two weeks. Classes are four hours a day with mid-term and final exam on the two Fridays. How long students retain the information is debatable but it is nice to concentrate on one subject at a time and have all afternoon to think about what was taught in the morning.
Sandra took one of the same courses I did. She sat in on all the instructional sessions, learned the same information and took part in every class discussion. However, Sandra didn’t plan to bother with the assignments and was unconcerned about the exams. She was auditing the course rather than taking it for credit.
There are some similarities in taking courses at college and living the Christian life. For example, the Bible tells us to be instructed concerning what we are to believe and know how we should put it into practice. It says: “Love your neighbor as yourself” and also: “Let us not love with words, or tongue; but in actions and in truth.”
In other words, love others: don’t just sit around and talk about loving or restrict love to a feeling but do things that show others they are loved. James 2:15-17 is more explicit: “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well, keep warm and fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Jesus was just as stern as James. He said, “Not every one that calls me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Jesus, like James, was not saying our good deeds earn a place in heaven but that genuine, living faith will be accompanied by action. Real believers put their money where their mouth is, that is, they KNOW what they believe and DO the assignments.
Another way Christian living is like taking a college course is that we need to be prepared for examinations. Some of these tests come up without warning in the form of trials, something like a “spot quiz” some teachers like to use. I Peter 1:7 says these trials come so our faith may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed; they are “faith exams” and we pass them by continuing to trust God in the trial.
God also uses exams to see if we will obey Him. Deuteronomy 8 tells how He led the Israelites forty years in the wilderness, to humble them and to test them, to know what was in their hearts, whether they would keep His commandments, or not. Trust can be passive reliance but more often it is expressed in active obedience.
Of course there are final exams. Christian or not, God will examine every life to see if there has been any deeds resulting from faith in Christ. Those who don’t pass this test must face His wrath. Those who do pass it have already been granted eternal life.
Christians have one more exam. It concerns the sorting out of all they have done in their life. Actions of eternal value are rewarded and those with no eternal value are burned. That prospect of that exam clearly shows that believers cannot audit the Christian life!
Sandra wasn’t too far into the class when she decided to hand in assignments. She didn’t write the exams but expressed how sorry she was to have made that decision. She found herself wishing she had taken the course for credit so she could prove she really knew the material she had been taught. May all of us who sit under the teaching of Jesus Christ have the same desire!
Showing posts with label exams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exams. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2015
Friday, January 9, 2015
Pressing through the tough stuff ................. Parables 220
(June 6, 1990)
Exams are over for university and college students, just coming up for school children. Young people anxiously wonder, “Will I pass?” And then there are those tests where passing is secondary; the poor student just wants to get through the exam!
We don’t need to be in school to experience tough tests: a child is sick for weeks and weeks, unemployment hits and keeps on hitting, the car doesn’t nickle and dime any more, now it’s into fifties and hundreds. At those times, we just want to get through the trial and go on to more enjoyable things.
Most of us do not look forward to those kind of exams. In fact, we do whatever we can to avoid “writing” them. However, God offers His children a certain character trait that makes it possible to not only get through the test, but do so with a passing grade! What we need, aside from good study habits, is PERSEVERANCE.
The word means “to remain under”; that is, “don’t bail out, do what can be done, and even if the nothing seems to work out, hang in there. Continue to obey God and trust Him, no matter what happens.”
“Remaining under” is not a normal response. Most of us, if we don’t run from a problem, quickly take it to God, begging Him to “fix” it. In fact, in the beginning of my Christian life, I thought if my faith was right, God would bring every trial swiftly to a happy ending and I would not have to endure difficult situations. I thought comfort would surely come, or peace, or a person would be saved or a life would change. I was so sure of God. He would never do me harm, nothing would ever hurt.
Then life dealt some blows. My assurance of being comfortable fell apart. I thought I was losing my “faith”... and I was... and it was a good thing! That kind of “faith” is not faith at all but a kind of mental manipulation putting God in the middle of my desires and trusting He would do what I wanted. I had to learn that while God can “kiss it and make it all better,” He doesn’t always.
Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Job didn’t demand happy endings. Neither his faith nor his patient PERSEVERANCE pulled God’s strings. God knew all about his trials and more, and would do the right thing, but not necessarily the most comfortable thing. It takes a long time to learn this.
When tests come, James says to rejoice... each trial will actually produce PERSEVERANCE, the very thing needed to endure that test and whatever other trials may follow. Trials produce PERSEVERANCE by first exposing our genuine desires along with any attitudes and attempts to manipulate God to do what we want. They also show us where our wants conflict with His will. Excessive tests enable us to stop demanding and begin realizing we do not control God by our “faith.” Instead, we learn that God is God. He always does what is right, and He is merely adjusting our concept of right. As that happens, we discover that instead of wanting to run away, we find ourselves ready to hang in there, if for no other reason but to see what He is up to.
Faith that trusts God (no matter what) and endures a situation (no matter what) is a mature faith based on knowing that the pressures of life are important to our spiritual growth. Actually, our pressure-free situation comes later, in heaven. Right now, PERSEVERANCE is far more valuable (and realistic) than our demands for a life without trials.
So as those tests come, we can look beyond the pain to passing the test by a mature, persevering confidence in God. That kind of focus may not always work as a pain killer but it will give us an A+ on the exam.
Exams are over for university and college students, just coming up for school children. Young people anxiously wonder, “Will I pass?” And then there are those tests where passing is secondary; the poor student just wants to get through the exam!
We don’t need to be in school to experience tough tests: a child is sick for weeks and weeks, unemployment hits and keeps on hitting, the car doesn’t nickle and dime any more, now it’s into fifties and hundreds. At those times, we just want to get through the trial and go on to more enjoyable things.
Most of us do not look forward to those kind of exams. In fact, we do whatever we can to avoid “writing” them. However, God offers His children a certain character trait that makes it possible to not only get through the test, but do so with a passing grade! What we need, aside from good study habits, is PERSEVERANCE.
The word means “to remain under”; that is, “don’t bail out, do what can be done, and even if the nothing seems to work out, hang in there. Continue to obey God and trust Him, no matter what happens.”
“Remaining under” is not a normal response. Most of us, if we don’t run from a problem, quickly take it to God, begging Him to “fix” it. In fact, in the beginning of my Christian life, I thought if my faith was right, God would bring every trial swiftly to a happy ending and I would not have to endure difficult situations. I thought comfort would surely come, or peace, or a person would be saved or a life would change. I was so sure of God. He would never do me harm, nothing would ever hurt.
Then life dealt some blows. My assurance of being comfortable fell apart. I thought I was losing my “faith”... and I was... and it was a good thing! That kind of “faith” is not faith at all but a kind of mental manipulation putting God in the middle of my desires and trusting He would do what I wanted. I had to learn that while God can “kiss it and make it all better,” He doesn’t always.
Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Job didn’t demand happy endings. Neither his faith nor his patient PERSEVERANCE pulled God’s strings. God knew all about his trials and more, and would do the right thing, but not necessarily the most comfortable thing. It takes a long time to learn this.
When tests come, James says to rejoice... each trial will actually produce PERSEVERANCE, the very thing needed to endure that test and whatever other trials may follow. Trials produce PERSEVERANCE by first exposing our genuine desires along with any attitudes and attempts to manipulate God to do what we want. They also show us where our wants conflict with His will. Excessive tests enable us to stop demanding and begin realizing we do not control God by our “faith.” Instead, we learn that God is God. He always does what is right, and He is merely adjusting our concept of right. As that happens, we discover that instead of wanting to run away, we find ourselves ready to hang in there, if for no other reason but to see what He is up to.
Faith that trusts God (no matter what) and endures a situation (no matter what) is a mature faith based on knowing that the pressures of life are important to our spiritual growth. Actually, our pressure-free situation comes later, in heaven. Right now, PERSEVERANCE is far more valuable (and realistic) than our demands for a life without trials.
So as those tests come, we can look beyond the pain to passing the test by a mature, persevering confidence in God. That kind of focus may not always work as a pain killer but it will give us an A+ on the exam.
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