How Do You Know When You Are Passing Your Tests?

Have you ever known that you were in a test that is measuring your spiritual barometer? One thing after another is coming to test you – your patience- your ability to cope with difficult situations; your faith – your ability to see past the circumstances; your love – people are hurting you and you know you can’t hold onto it.

As an educator, I am familiar with the purpose of testing. I can never know how my students are doing unless I give them some type of assessment. Over the years I have developed in my tool bag different types of assessments – it doesn’t always have to be paper and pen and written out questions – sometimes by informally asking questions I can get the information I need as to whether there is a real understanding into what the lesson is all about. In recent years, it has been more and more difficult to develop strategies to teach for understanding – too many of our students are shaped by preconceived notions that are hard to break down – they tend to follow principles and precepts established by the secular media and don’t think for themselves and thus are not able to really involve themselves in a learning process.

A few years ago, I was given training on a program called “Assessment for Learning.” I am not going into all the dynamics of this program now – but the part that really makes sense to me is that this program involves the student in their own learning process – with the teacher informing them in multiple ways of the gap between what they know and what they need to know ?????? ??????? – and the student actually becoming a part of being able to track their own progress because they understand both the end goal and the process of determining whether or not they are there.

We have to do the same thing in our spiritual life – we have to determine what we need to know (and be able to do) and what it will take for us to get there – in other words we have to check our walk out from time to time.

1 Corinthians 11:31 (KJV) says:
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
???? ????? ???????? ?????????

What that says to me is that we have a part in our own learning process. We know what our goal is as believers – to take on the likeness of Jesus in our daily walk; we also have the ability to step back and determine where we are on this process – because those trials I mentioned up above clearly let us know where we are in that process. Learning how to do that and having the heart to do that is what separates those who grow and those who don’t.

There is one final exam that determines whether we have passed our course, and that is found in:

1 John 3:14 (KJV)
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

We can pass the faith test, we can pass the patience test, we can pass the endurance test – the test that determines our LIFE, is the love test -that more than anything else determines our pass or fail!

God Bless You,

Marias