Testing Season
Most of the readers of this blog can probably finish the Biblical phrase “testing produces …” without too much trouble. If you can’t, please look up James 1:3.
As we are nearing the end (finally) of our state testing window, this phrase has been on my mind quite a bit. In fact, I have questioned it. As a special education teacher, I am called upon to give the same test multiple times, often with different accommodations. Some of these sessions have been with students who may have a known disability that impacts their test taking. Others have simply been make-up sessions for students who were absent from the general population and had to take the test at a later date. With my many test-taking sessions, I feel pretty well qualified to tell you the end of the phrase “testing produces …”
I have seen confusion, frustration, victory, exhaustion, interest, and apathy all produced by the tests students have been taking. So why does God, through James, tell us that testing produces patience?
I think the answer lies within the test taker. You may have noticed the vastly different reactions I listed above to simple academic tests given at an elementary level. Why would the same test produce frustration in one student and victory in another?
The testing that James speaks of can be cross referenced with the trials mentioned in 1 Peter 1:6. And the purpose of those trials are explained in verse 7: “so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” See that phrase “may be found?” That has to do with the person being tested.
So does another cross-referenced passage found in Romans 5: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (verses 3-5).
How do I know this has to do with the person being tested and not the test itself? Just as I have watched 3rd graders react differently to the same test, I have seen faithful Christians who have faced some of life’s hardest tests – debilitating illness, death of a spouse, spiritual loss of a child – who continue to serve God with joy and build that endurance, character, and hope. Unfortunately, I have seen other Christians who, when faced with seemingly lesser trials, buckle and give up their faith in God.
Instead of seeing “testing produces patience” as a guarantee, may each of us see it as a challenge – a challenge to make sure we are one of those who “let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4).
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
AUTHOR: Amber Tatum
