By Gregg Heid | PREVIEW Columnist
I’ve taken a lot of tests in my life: driver’s test, personality tests, CPR and first aid tests, etc.
I remember finals back in college when the professor would post final grades for the semester beside his office door. Names were not posted but only one’s ID number. We’d be there in small groups checking out the scores; you could tell the grade received by the excited screams or sad faces. I did well on most of my tests because I was prepared. I studied, read the assignments and did my homework for each class.
It paid off when I took National Board Certification for Young Adult Mathematics. I studied regularly for an hour a day five days a week for three months. I passed, giving me an increase in salary, and it opened many doors for me in my career.
If it was a physical test, like the “Pack Test” to fight forest fires, I would fill my pack with 45 pounds of water using gallon milk containers. I trained by carrying them in my pack for 3 miles, making sure I could walk the distance in under 45 minutes. When the day came to take the “test” I was ready and passed, five minutes under the cut-off requirement.
I did fail my college physic test. I received 29 points out of a hundred. Not good, but after the professor looked at all scores, he curved the grades and I ended up with a C.
I’ve been thinking about three tests that influenced all of humanity. We all know that God created everything out of nothing; that includes the angels — all created at once, fully developed with all their knowledge, power and beauty. That knowledge, power and beauty is what caused Lucifer and his followers to reject God’s divine plan and fail test No. 1. They became prideful and wanted to follow their own ways and not the will of God. The Dragon, as he is called in Revelation 12:7-9, lost the battle against Michael the Archangel and the good angels. Thus, they were thrown down to earth to accuse and deceive people until Christ comes again.
As part of the drama of His divine plan, God permitted Satan to deceive Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. Our original parents disobeyed God and were darkened with original sin and cast out of the Garden. They failed test No. 2.
Because Adam and Eve failed their test, we are now faced with test No. 3, our most important test. Because we are born into sin and needing salvation from this sinful nature. Our test is to choose salvation through Jesus and pass. Or, do we disregard the salvation offered in Christ, and fail?
What is our preparation? The apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; Examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test.” — (2 Corinthians 13:5). And he writes to that same Corinthian church (I Corinthians 3:13-14), “... each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he will receive his reward.”
Psalm 26 says, “Examine me O Lord and try me, test my mind and my heart to make sure I walk in your truth, and do not sit with deceitful men, or go with pretenders, or hang out with evil doers or the wicked.”
And lastly, to the Thessalonians (5:21) he writes, “Test all things and hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.”
If you want to be a doctor, a nurse, a lawyer, a teacher or just about any career path, you will have to pass a test — boards in most professions. Do your due diligence and be prepared. If you want to go to Heaven, answer the call of God the Father and choose Christ and you pass the test with an A — no need to curve your grade.
This column may include both fiction and nonfiction, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of The SUN. Submissions can be sent to editor@pagosasun.com.
