I’m challenged by this quote from Rick Warren: “God develops the fruit of the Spirit in your life by allowing you to experience circumstances in which you’re tempted to express the exact opposite quality!”
In school, your teacher had to test you to see if you knew the material. She probably didn’t want to give you the test, but she had to. It would be unkind of her to promote you to the next level of learning if you weren’t prepared for it.
God does the same thing. He tests us on what we’ve learned in order to take us to the next level of fruitfulness. Many times these tests tempt us, as Rick Warren said, to do the opposite of what we’ve learned. But if we don’t pass the test, God cannot promote us.
As the Israelites began their journey out of Egypt, twice in the first few days of their freedom the Bible says God tested them.
- God tested their thirst to see if they would trust Him to provide.
- God tested their hunger to see if they would still trust Him even after they were full.
God loves you so much that He wants to keep promoting you. He wants to see more and more fruitfulness coming from your life. That means He has to keep preparing you for the next test, and then administering that test. Don’t run away from His testing.
Right now you are in one of three places:
- The Holy Spirit is preparing you for a test;
- God is giving you a test; or
- You just completed a test.
Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, your Divine Tutor. He will remind you of everything you have learned and help you ace that test!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to studying for my next test…
Craig T. Owens 