Happy New Year! I wonder how all the Vision 2020 Statements have been renamed?  Vision 2025 just doesn’t have the same ring. Vision 2030 sounds like a prescription for glasses is needed. Oh well, that’s just an aside. It’s a brand-new year, and Jesus hasn’t had his second coming yet, so that means there is still work on this earth yet to do.

If you are employed by Nashville Rescue Mission, you are more than a spectator to what God is doing in this world; you are the hands and feet of Jesus. You are truly demonstrating godly compassion by ministering to the least of these Matthew 25:34-40.

In my daily Bible reading last a few weeks ago, I came across a passage from 2 Corinthians 13:5 that struck me in a new way: “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?”

Testing is a big deal in the Bible. God tests us. We see examples in the Bible of how God tested his people. God tested the Israelites when he gave them manna along with the instructions to only collect what was needed for the day (Exodus 16:4). Among many other examples, we know that God tested the Israelites during the time of the Judges (Judges 3:1-4) and during the Captivity (Jeremiah 9:7). I believe that God tests us not only with the hardships we must endure, but also with blessings. One of my favorite stories about my Grandpa is that he found a twenty-dollar bill on the sidewalk (he was a mailman and his route was downtown Nashville). He picked it up and somehow managed to find the owner. He did not keep it himself. Not only did he pass that test, my family retold the story to his grandchildren so that we were motivated to follow his example.

Every moment is a moment of decision, of testing. What will we think? What will we say? What will we do? We can be choose to be negative, we can choose to be-serving, we can choose to be wasteful. Or we can choose to be grateful, we can choose to be compassionate, we can choose to be a good steward of what we have been given. Every moment is an opportunity to make the best decision.

God tells us to test Him with our giving. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” (Malachi 3:10).

But we are also told to test ourselves. We are told to test ourselves to see if we really have Christ in us, to ensure whether we are really in the faith. Honestly, I had not thought about the concept of testing myself. What could that even mean? I read many commentaries on this, and trust me, there are many commentaries on this passage. I began to get overwhelmed with all the commentaries. But knowing that this is serious, it can mean life or death, I persisted. I need to know how to test myself. Just what is the practical application of this passage? Here are my thoughts on this passage and include some things that I plan to focus on this year in my own personal walk.

I believe that the examination process should be a daily exercise; it is an important part of our prayer life. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). I believe that this passage is telling us to be specific in our confession, so in our prayer life, if we examine our day and confess where we have fallen short, ask for forgiveness and for help from the Holy Spirit to do better, we will grow in our faith and glorify our Father in heaven. Some specific things I will commit to review in my daily prayer life are:

1. Did I study God’s Word today? Since God tests our obedience as shown in the Scriptures above, I know that I should make it a priority to be obedient to His Word, which also means that I should know His Word. So one test is to be sure that I am studying God’s word, and doing what it says (2 Corinthians 9:13), even when it’s hard. Know that we will not be tested to see if we can recite a litany of “ought to’s.” Knowledge is important, of course, but we are tested to see if we have actually owned our faith, if we are wearing our faith, if it is who we are.
2. Did I trust God today? God tells us in his Word to trust Him. This is implied in the example of the provision of manna. It is also implied in the passage from Malachi above. And Jesus makes it very clear that we are not to worry (Luke 12:22-34). I believe that worry means that we are not trusting God as we have been instructed to do.
3. Have I exhibited the fruits of the spirit today? Galatians 5 says those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires, and instead exhibit the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-26). Have I taken every opportunity to demonstrate love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and (last but not least) self-control?

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a reasonable start. I sincerely want you to know how my heart has been so blessed by your many acts of obedience and your many demonstrations of trust and exhibitions of the fruits of the spirit over the past Thanksgiving and Christmas season. As we have been short staffed due to illness, at the same time being busier than ever serving those in need, you have risen to the occasion with love and grace to work extra hours, sometimes with little notice. Your obedience has been a testimony to many others. Your cheerfulness and compassion have been the embodiment of Christ.  You are each an encouragement to me and to each other, and I pray that we will all be an encouragement to each other throughout 2020. May God richly bless you all.

In Christ,

Judy

P.S. Thought you might like to know that this is the 101^st Chaplain’s Corner since beginning in February 2018.