Testing... testing... is this thing on?

If you are anything like me, you don't like tests. Granted, I'm not typically the kind of person who freaks out, has panic attacks, or stresses out about a test; I'm just not a very big fan. They're usually mentally draining and leave me feeling a bit hopeless. After you finish, there's nothing left you can do--it's entirely up to the grader at that point to determine your grade.

Testing on the other hand is slightly different. I do enjoy testing. Being a scientist/engineer at heart, I love trying things out and see what the outcome will be. It can be day-to-day things like, let's see what happens when I mix peanut butter and pickles (very tasty by the way) or more thought out testing like, let's thermochemically gasify wood chips and see if we can power a spark-ignition engine with it.

If there's one thing I've learned in my life as a follower of Christ, it is that you must always be testing. I can attribute this learned trait to my Bible study leader and good friend, Bruce. I'd need more hands and feet to count the number of times one of us in our Romans study would start, "Well I think it says..." and Bruce would stop us and say, "No, what does it say..." as he pointed at his Bible. You must always be testing anything you hear, read, see with what God's word says. Isaac's word should probably be ignored all together (but don't stop reading my blog, please :) ).

I met with Bruce a couple of weekends ago to catch up, talk about life and what's going on, and to talk about some things I'd been struggling with. As I laid out how I was struggling with citizenship and how one source tells me this and another source tells me that and a third source tells me something completely different, he stopped me and said, "What does it say?" as he pointed at his Bible.

The feeling I felt then I can't put to words. It was relief, but it was also conviction. My eyes had been opened. I realized that I had become so attuned to listening to the world around me try to say what it means to be a citizen that I had all but forgot the only word that matters.

Therefore, readers, I ask of you this. I can't guarantee this is the only time I will give you homework, but bear with me. Always be testing. Test what I say, test what you hear, test what you read, test what you see. Test it all. Test everything. Test it against what you ask? Against God's word. What does he say? That's what matters. That's only what matters.