Test Yourself

2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. (NLT)

I am not a fan of tests; even the ones that come in emails for the fun of it. I take them, but do not always do that well. My students in college did not like tests either. As a matter of fact, I cannot say anyone I know really likes them. But we have to take them to show what we know.

I had to take a test get my driver's license. The first time I did that was when I was sixteen. The registry of motor vehicles had booklets for you to study before taking the test to get your drivers permit-the first step to obtaining a license to drive. I skimmed the booklet and figured I knew it all. You guessed it. I failed the test and had to reschedule it before I could get behind the wheel to learn to drive.

Satan tested Jesus and failure would have caused Jesus to fall into sin. The first Adam was tested and he fell. I am tested all the time with temptations to move off the path God has for me. I am tempted to sin daily as I go about my daily life. I wish I could say I never fall, but like all of us I am mortal working out my salvation. Only one man was perfect and He died for my sins and yours over two thousand years ago.

We need to look back over our life and notice the changes. As we do we can see the path God has taken us on. We can see where we veered off that path and how He got us back on it. We can see where the enemy tempted us and how we either overcame or fell into the trap. And we can see how every time God was there to pick us back up.

As the body of Christ, a group of Christians bonded together, we should see evidence of Jesus amongst us. We see the fruit of the Spirit in each other's lives. We feel the presence of God amongst us as we get together and praise Him. If not, perhaps we have failed the test of genuine faith.