Testing

What did you sign up for when you became a Christ-follower?  Was it to avoid going to Hell?  Was it to escape problems in your life or because you thought being a Christian equated to living a more tranquil life?  So why did you choose to walk down that path?  Perhaps you just wanted to check it out to see if being a Christ-follower might offer you better earthly benefits.   Hopefully, you did it because you sensed a deep need for God’s forgiveness and a desire for a close relationship with Him.

Somewhere in the back of many people’s mind there is the idea that if I live a really good life or do everything God tells me to do, my life will be abundantly blessed, meaning void of serious problems.  If a person has tragedies or serious hardships it is assumed that person does not have faith or is not close enough to God.  With that premise songs have been written, sermons have been preached and promises implied that instead of facing proverbial lions or life’s hard bumps, a Christian would experience a soft, smooth ride into God’s heaven.  That sounds appealing, especially when facing a worldwide pandemic with anarchy in our major cities and our country is far more divided than united. 

Jesus actually promised the opposite by saying in the world [as long as you are sucking oxygen] you will have tribulation[Greek word meaning trouble involving suffering].  But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b, ESV)  Indeed the early believers faced real lions and painful persecution.  Is this what you signed up for when you decided to follow Jesus?  If not, it probably feels like you have been a victim of the old bait and switch sales pitch.  God’s plan looks more like the picture of a bird feeding her babies reaching up to be fed, nested on a branch hanging within inches of deafening water crashing down 20 feet into a churning river.  The contrast of the bird at total peace within inches of disaster is striking.  This is a word picture of one of God’s ways with humans—perfect peace in the midst of a storm. 

Jesus was the only perfect human (yes, with a veiled deity which He chose not to utilize).  If a perfectly righteous life could result in external serenity was possible, it would stand to reason that Jesus, above all, would have experienced it.  However, He transversed this earthly life experiencing perfect peace and treacherous attacks at the same time.   The disciple Mark records this episode in His life.  Mark 1:9-11 (ESV) In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  Wow!  Life cannot get any more blessed and exhilarating than that.  God sensationally stamped His full approval on Jesus’ life with others there to witness the event.   Jesus must have been at the ultimate peak of his human emotional and mental capacity.  One would imagine that He would now ride off into the sunset to a bliss-filled life.  But the very next verse (vs12-13) goes on to read the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.  So much for the fantasy of obedient Christians being blessed with a trouble-free life!

By probing deeper into Jesus’ life, you find He experienced perfect inner peace as He faced far greater testings than any other human.   It was His intimacy with our God that allowed the Holy Spirit to take each and every step of that perilous and painful life with His humanity.  Herein was the source of His (and our) peace that the world cannot give.  God designed tests in life to motivate, teach and strengthen one’s faith and love for Him.  As it is in school, or other aspects of life, tests are only bad if we have not properly prepared ourselves for them.   The apostle James wrote My brothers and sisters, be very happy when you are tested in different ways. You know that such testing of your faith produces endurance. Endure until your testing is over. Then you will be mature and complete, and you will not need anything. (James 1:2-4, GW)

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