June 18, 2024
Read Judges 5, Song of Songs 2, 2 Corinthians 13
What’s the biggest test you have ever taken before? The SAT or ACT? Maybe it was the graduate entrance examine or some test to certify you in your profession. When I was in college as a music education major we had private lessons on our instruments and all semester long we worked on music but at the end of the semester we would play our final examine before the music faculty and it was either a pass/fail grade. A couple of weeks after each final exam I took I would always develop ulcers in my mouth from the stress. It took me a couple of semesters to figure out what was the cause.
Paul encourages the believers at Corinth to also test themselves. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test” vv. 5-6. The question is next, what is the test? What does it involve? Paul seems to imply that the test involves seeing what we do. Will we do right or not? “Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed” v. 7. Sometimes the circumstances that we face will test us and see what we are truly made of. The next verse seems to imply a test of intellect. What do we believe? “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” v. 8. In the letter of 1 John we are told that any spirit that does not acknowledge the Jesus is the Christ is not from God.
What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you?
Add your thoughts below.
DId God Really Say... 