“What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in the ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness. ” Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel
Wherever you go there are people trained to check the authenticity of things. At Wal Mart, if you hand a cashier a hundred dollar bill the first thing they do is check it to make sure its real. My future son-in-law has one of those jobs in a pawn shop where he works. His job is to check out the things that are coming in to see if they are genuine or not. Tools everywhere are used to check diamond rings and other jewelry to make sure they are worth, pardon me, “their weight in gold.” It doesn’t take long to spot which are authentic and which are not.
In our Christian walk we find ourselves up against a similar situation as God makes it very clear that we will be tested. Tested? Yes tested! But why are the ones who believe in God tested? Shouldn’t it be the nonbelievers that have to go through this kind of process? No, nice try but no cigars! It’s the righteous who will be tested according to God. Just sit down and read this handful of scriptures from Psalms and if you’re not fully convinced then there are plenty of others to throw in. (Psalm 7:9; 11:5; 17:3; 66:10)
Think about it, when you walk in the door at Wal Mart or my soon to be son-in-law’s work you will not see a sign posted on the front door saying, “Authenticity will be checked.” It’s just something that needs to happen and it does. We as Christians need to be tested frequently to see just how genuine our faith in Him is. Abraham and many others went through it and we will too.
At the end of the test it’s quite obvious that it’s not going to matter how many Bible verses we know or whether you know the complete family history of Isaac, Daniel, or Paul. It’s not our head knowledge that gets us through these tests but the condition of our spiritual heart. It’s important to know that what counts are the ability, capacity, capability, and the competence of our faithfulness. It is something that is used not only to show God where we stand but it reveals it to ourselves and others as well where we are in our true authenticity, realism, and truthfulness in Christ.
There are no excused absences or make up tests if we miss one. The tests will come and our authenticity of our faithfulness will go on trial. Praise the Lord God doesn’t grade on a curve or our salvation doesn’t hinge on one “pass or failed” test. We all fall short of God’s glory because of our sin but our faithfulness in Christ doesn’t have to. We know what the end of the Bible reveals but what does the end of our spiritual tests reveal?
We need to use our head knowledge of the Bible to develop the condition of our heart. As the tests come and go the end result comes from the capacity of our faithfulness. Where it is depends on where we put it.
Check for Authenticity!
© 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing
Wherever you go there are people trained to check the authenticity of things. At Wal Mart, if you hand a cashier a hundred dollar bill the first thing they do is check it to make sure its real. My future son-in-law has one of those jobs in a pawn shop where he works. His job is to check out the things that are coming in to see if they are genuine or not. Tools everywhere are used to check diamond rings and other jewelry to make sure they are worth, pardon me, “their weight in gold.” It doesn’t take long to spot which are authentic and which are not.
In our Christian walk we find ourselves up against a similar situation as God makes it very clear that we will be tested. Tested? Yes tested! But why are the ones who believe in God tested? Shouldn’t it be the nonbelievers that have to go through this kind of process? No, nice try but no cigars! It’s the righteous who will be tested according to God. Just sit down and read this handful of scriptures from Psalms and if you’re not fully convinced then there are plenty of others to throw in. (Psalm 7:9; 11:5; 17:3; 66:10)
Think about it, when you walk in the door at Wal Mart or my soon to be son-in-law’s work you will not see a sign posted on the front door saying, “Authenticity will be checked.” It’s just something that needs to happen and it does. We as Christians need to be tested frequently to see just how genuine our faith in Him is. Abraham and many others went through it and we will too.
At the end of the test it’s quite obvious that it’s not going to matter how many Bible verses we know or whether you know the complete family history of Isaac, Daniel, or Paul. It’s not our head knowledge that gets us through these tests but the condition of our spiritual heart. It’s important to know that what counts are the ability, capacity, capability, and the competence of our faithfulness. It is something that is used not only to show God where we stand but it reveals it to ourselves and others as well where we are in our true authenticity, realism, and truthfulness in Christ.
There are no excused absences or make up tests if we miss one. The tests will come and our authenticity of our faithfulness will go on trial. Praise the Lord God doesn’t grade on a curve or our salvation doesn’t hinge on one “pass or failed” test. We all fall short of God’s glory because of our sin but our faithfulness in Christ doesn’t have to. We know what the end of the Bible reveals but what does the end of our spiritual tests reveal?
We need to use our head knowledge of the Bible to develop the condition of our heart. As the tests come and go the end result comes from the capacity of our faithfulness. Where it is depends on where we put it.
Check for Authenticity!
© 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing
3 comments:
Well said. Bless you for sharing.
Karen, as always, I enjoy reading your take on our weekly quotes. Yes, testing definitely comes our way as believers. I've been going through much of that lately as have many of others I know. How nice if life were easy but the Lord doesn't promise us that. But believing by faith that He is always with me is key to withstanding the tests. Yes, I do want to be authentic.
It’s not our head knowledge that gets us through these tests but the condition of our spiritual heart.
I think you've hit the nail on the head here. THIS is why our authenticity depends on our faithfulness.
Thanks for this post.
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