Passing the Right Test

Imagine going to the ER with a tremendous pain in your stomach, thinking it could be an appendix, gall bladder, heart attack, kidney stone or some other terrible problem. Now imagine the doctor coming into the room calmly with one of those little hammer-like tools they use to check your reflexes and all he does is tap your knees and elbows. While you a writhing in pain he is checking reflexes! How crazy is that!

While it is important for you to have good reflexes that is clearly NOT the right test to pass at that moment. You need to take the right test.

Unfortunately sometimes we measure our spiritual health with similarly ridiculous tests:

• In the same way that perfect attendance in school doesn't guarantee that the person is a good student or even well educated, perfect attendance in church doesn't guarantee spiritual maturity.
• Even though people can go to a prestigious university and get a great degree that doesn't necessarily mean they will be the best employee to hire. In the same way, someone can grow up in a good, Godly home or go to a great church, but still be very far from God.
• There are a lot of people who pass the written test perfectly, but who turn out to be the worst drivers on the road. In the same way, people can know all the right answers about scripture and theology, but never put them into practice in their lives.

You get the point . . .

We need to pass the right test and the right test for measuring spiritual growth and maturity is a heart test, a test that measures the gracious love of God in our hearts.

Everyone who receives Christ does so only by grace, through faith. They accept the gift of Jesus' salvation, which forgives them of their sin, makes them alive spiritually and right with God. It also fills and keeps filling up their lives with the love of God. And as the love of God fills their hearts it naturally is poured out to others around them.

In other words, having received grace, they become gracious. Having received forgiveness, they become forgiving. Having received love, they become loving.

That means the right test for spiritual growth and maturity isn't an IQ test - measuring what you know - but an EKG - measuring what is happening in your heart.

That is the right test, the test you really need to pass.

I would love to hear your reaction and thoughts to this. How do you make sense of this in your life?