“But test everything...’ 1 Thessalonians 5:21a
Taking tests in school brought about a physiological effect that was unmistakable. No matter how many hours went into studying or the confidence I held for the subject, my pretest jitters manifest the same sweaty palms and rapid heartbeat. Before long, my mind would go blank until regaining my composure and continuing.
Obviously, exams were not a favorite of my scholastic career. Then again, I don’t know many people who ever got excited about academic quizzes. Through it all, I passed the tests year after year, making it to graduation relatively unscathed.
As a Christian, I’m noticing the tests not only continue but they are overtly intense at times, pushing me to spiritual limits I never recognized having. The state of our world over the past couple years with the fear, anxiety and deception in escalating measure, has been a trial against my believing rigor.
Yet, it is with extreme gratitude that I can use the most potent litmus test against all that strives to blindside devoted Christ-followers, God’s Word. I know that everything the world throws at me will receive a pass or fail grade when placed alongside the absolute truth of Scripture. Nothing evil can prosper (Isaiah 54:17) in the face of the God-breathed foundation of the Bible.
As Christians, we can confidently wield the power of God’s Word in opposition to anything that threatens to overcome us and God’s plan for our lives. May we, faithfully, sharpen the sword of God’s truth each morning through devotion, prayer and meditation before facing the tests around us.
Heavenly Father, thank you that your holy Bible defeats everything that comes against it and that I can have the same assurance as I test all things that oppose me, alongside it. Give me, daily, the zeal to use your Word as a weapon to encourage and help others feeling the pressure of the world’s tests. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.
Thought: Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Ask the Lord to examine your heart, desires and thoughts, and to help you live by the power of his Spirit.
By Melissa Talbot
Used by Permission
Further Reading
• Suffering – Spiritual principles to meditate on during hard times
• Why Me Lord? Why Not? A different perspective on being shunned or mistreated.