标题: [教会] Test [打印本页] 作者: Jun 时间: 2011-2-25 08:39 标题: Test
Once my friend came back rather depressed from a job interview because during the interview she was asked to take a test. Although she graduated with straight A’s, she didn’t do well on that impromptu one and therefore got disapproved for the position. Fortunately the depression didn’t last long, and was completely healed later by a job offer.
Test tends to stand on our nerves, much more so for important tests, for much is at stake. We design mock tests to sharpen ourselves, in order to make the cut for the real ones. Last night we dined with a lady at a restaurant, whose job is to help students on the SAT.
Though test is key to modern life, for humanity it is not a recent invention. In fact it is not invented by us at all, but from God (Prov 17:3). The Bible starts with a failed test (Gen 3), and is followed by a long and painstaking preparation and a Helper (Heb 9:28), and ends with a final for everyone without makeup (Heb 9:27).
If a test only opens or shuts the ladder to go up, we may feel nervous before taking it. Yet a test also opens and shuts the ground on which we stand, and underneath lies a bottomless pit (Num 16:31). For taking such a test, we better fear. Precisely with such a stake, test is often called ‘judgment’ in the Bible (and it explains why people easily get offended by gospel: try tell a senior – who is celebrating after all his SAT tests are over – that he has one more test ahead and it is mandatory and it takes the rest of his life to prepare for it.)
Here is the gospel in a nutshell: we all fall short on God’s test and are condemned. Out of His love we are not only granted a second chance, but a redeemer which is Christ, who is condemned in our place, so that whoever trusts Him receives a guaranteed pass. For those who pass, with Christ’s help and example, they’re even striving for an A. In the end, there is only one report card and one grade that matters. So for heaven’s sake don’t flunk this final.
Proverbs 17:3 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts. Hebrews 9:28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, Numbers 16:31 And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart.
