Articles
Where The Best Are Tested
The Nürburgring is a race track in west-central Germany known around the world by car enthusiasts and manufacturers. The more famous of the two tracks in the area that were built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains is known as the Nordschleife ["North loop"]. Anyone who owns an at-home game console [various versions of PlayStation or XBox] and who races cars in the virtual world would instantly recognize the name because it is quite often the circuit that racing games will include as a course of choice and the one everyone wants a shot at. I know the circuit well.
But the Nürburgring is also a testing ground for many sports car manufacturers in the real world who use their lap times at the 'Ring as a bragging point, though not in any official advertising. 'Unofficially,' it is known, amongst automobile manufacturers, as the test of a sport car's abilities, and one can find multiple videos online of record attempts — and failed attempts — by various individuals, teams, or manufacturers. When a manufacturer sets a record for its class there, you can be sure word will 'leak' out so everyone will know [just not officially announced by the manufacturer].
Whether or not manufacturers would admit it openly, many of them would at least secretly admit that they would love to put their products to the test on the 'Ring, and would be elated if the car did well. It is where the best are tested, and a superior result means you have a superior product. Who wouldn't want to be tested and be found worthy of the test?
In the spiritual realm, it is important that every disciple understands he or she is created in Christ Jesus for a purpose: serving the Lord. The apostle Paul, in fact, tells us “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10); in other words, we are Christ's so we might live a life demonstrated by our good works — living a life of sobriety, righteousness, and godliness (cf. Titus 2:12).
Furthermore, a disciple is called “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17), which demands a change in the way of thinking and the way of life — quite often summed up in the term repentance. This is something expected of every disciple, as Paul made clear (cf. Acts 26:20). An individual who claims to have changed, but does not demonstrate change, is fooling only himself.
Disciples are also admonished and exhorted, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5), but how can Christians know that they will pass the test, and how and where is this done? Sports car manufacturers can take their car to the Nürburgring, but where does a Christian go to be tested? And what is the standard? How can we know we have passed the test? What does the Bible say?
The Written Word is the Standard. Despite the claims of some religious men, no man on earth is the standard, and no creed of man is the basis by which we measure ourselves and test ourselves to see if we pass the test. God's word tells us plainly, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17); if it is the written word that makes us complete and equips us for every good work [remember, good works are what we were created for], I'd say that if we measure ourselves against what it says, and find we are doing what God commanded, we will pass the test with flying colors!
Any man who tests himself by the creeds of religious denominations, public opinion, or even his own opinion, is using the wrong standard! If we appear to be doing good by measuring ourselves against anything other than God's written word, it is very likely we will fail the test when out in the real world, and failure is a certainty when we stand before Christ in the final Judgment! The test of self is the Scriptures, and nothing else; don't sell yourself short or deceive yourself by using the wrong standard. When your faith is implemented and challenged, your engine will fail, your steering will be unstable, and your spiritual wheels will fall off. Out in the real world, and most certainly in the final Judgment, that is not a scenario any of us want to be a part of, for it will have eternal consequences.
Life is the Testing Ground. The Nürburgring is the perceived standard for sports cars to be tested before they go to market, or even after they are already on the market, but the real world is really where the car will succeed or fail. For the disciple, testing begins with the written word of God, but it doesn't end there; that is just where the real test of faith begins. Any honest disciple will tell you that mere knowledge of God's written word is not enough, for within that written word are truths to believe, commands to obey, and promises to expect. One cannot be found faithful while merely sitting home on the easy chair, or even sitting in a pew every Sunday morning. As someone has said, "Your armor isn't tested while sitting on the pew, but out on the battlefield!" Likewise, the real test of our faith comes by getting up and going out into the real world and living our faith!
The apostle Peter wrote to the early disciples to encourage them to faithfulness in the midst of trials, reminding them, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:6-9).
According to Peter, they were already undergoing the tests: suffering wrongfully for their faith (1 Peter 2:19), defamed as evildoers (1 Peter 3:16), past associates speaking evil of them (1 Peter 4:4), reproached for Christ (1 Peter 4:14), and suffering for merely being a Christian (1 Peter 4:16). If they passed the test, their faith would be found to be more precious than gold and they would receive the reward for passing the test: “the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9). You can rest assured these trials didn't come to them because they hung around people who believed exactly as they did!
The apostle Paul neared the end of his life with the full confidence in God's promises, knowing he had “fought the good fight…finished the race [and] kept the faith,” and knew the Lord would reward him when he crossed the finish line (2 Tim. 4:7, 8). He knew that all who faithfully followed the Lord's instructions and were washed in the blood of Jesus Christ would be rewarded. But he also knew all disciples would be tested, and he knew that those trials would produce the perseverance and character that would ensure the hope of heaven was theirs (cf. Rom. 5:3, 4).
Some, if given the chance, would gladly take the opportunity to lap the 'Ring, but would we be so eager to face the test of our faith? Ready or not, the tests are coming — every day we wake up. — Steven Harper
