At school we have to practice a skill until we master it.  In life, God wants us to resist temptation over and over so that we master sin!

My son started kindergarten this year, and with it begins a barrage of assessments. Every week he is tested in reading, math, and spelling. This week he came home with a new math assessment that showed that he earned only 80%, and the teacher had circled the score and written a note for us to practice these math skills.  When I looked more closely, I found that that 80% represented 4 questions correct out of 5.  I thought to myself, he only missed one question!  That’s pretty good!  Why do we need to keep studying these areas?

But, you know, I seem to be tested all the time with the same old assessments, or rather, temptations, even after I think I have mastered them.  I might go a week without eating out of head hunger, and then I slip up again!  Does this mean that I am doomed to failure?  No!  It just means that every day I have to be on guard against the tests of life.  Christ Jesus is in me!  I have His Power to pass every test if I keep focused on putting God first!  Paul reminded the Corinthians in his second letter that we must examine ourselves, find our weak spots, and test our faith.  This is how we will know that Christ Jesus is in us.

“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?  And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.”                      2 Corinthians 13:5-6 (NIV)

So I welcome these nitpicky, repetitive assessments of life.  With every success God strengthens my resolve more.  I want to be refined so that I pass the test not just 4 out of 5 times, but 100% of the time.  And I am sure that with a little more practice, my son is going to be mastering his lessons with 100% accuracy too!

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