The Willingness to Be Tested

Sorry it's been a while, folks. It's not as though I've lacked thoughts over the past month, just lacked motivation. And sometimes motivation is the hardest thing to find. I actually had some great ideas for blog entries. But never fleshed them out. Sorry. My bad.

You could say that this season of my life is a great period of testing. Testing of my heart. Testing of my desires. Testing of my faith. Testing of all kinds that have left me a bit shaky and bruised but still standing on two feet, albeit feet that are a bit wobbly. Faith wobbles. Or so I've found. Not so much saving faith, mind you, as sustaining faith. Trials and temptations come our way and we shake. Plain and simple. At least I know I do.

Tonight I went to a leadership meeting at my church and listened to a marvelously deep talk by Hud McWilliams, president of Christian Associates, a church planting ministry. Hud has been a counselor, pastor and missionary in his life, so I'm pretty sure he knows something about testing. And that's what he talked about. He talked about how leaders need to strive for integrity, which he semi-defined as a willingness to be tested. God tests us, Hud said, in order to do good for us, to find out what's in our hearts, or to help us grow. Look at all the people in the Bible. Like, every major character. Over and over again they were tested — sometimes by divine will, sometimes by circumstance, sometimes by both — and they had to deal with it. Sometimes they passed, sometimes they failed. I personally think every one of us will pass and fail testing during a lifetiime. Only one man passed every test, and He's seated at the right hand of the Father.

Back to the Bible. The testing revealed what each person had in their hearts and what they thought of God. When David was tested, he was forced to fall back on his knowledge of God and his experience with God. If you want to know what was going through his mind during times of testing, read the Psalms. His heart is open for all to see. Biblically, Hud said, we should want to be tested. For the willingness to be tested is a mark of leadership. In order for a leader to have integrity (which is wholeness), they need to have that integrity tested and proven. Plus, James said we should count it all joy when we're tested. As if it's a good thing. I don't know about you, but wanting testing is usually down the list of John's desires for life.

"I think that tests are designed to (loosen us up) so we don't rely on what we see," he said. After all, most believers these days seem to want a "seat belt Christianity" — one that's safe — when, in fact, God calls us on an adventure. There will be bumps and scrapes and sometimes broken limbs. We don't want to hear that! I know I don't. But it's true.


Hud talked about a bunch of things related to testing and even though I soaked it all in I won't discuss them now. His conclusion was that God uses this world to test us, though He Himself will not bring evil upon us, and we should let times of testing and adversity build personal integrity. Lean upon what you know about God — what He has revealed to you about Himself. I find myself doing that just about every day, for I've found that tests come every day in my life. I'm in a period of testing right now. I want to pass. Even if I don't, I know there will be grace.

That's a really, really, really great feeling.

Be God's!

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