Test is a Four-Letter Word

T

est is a four-letter word, just ask any student.  The mere mention of the “T” word is enough to throw a class into shock and to offend the majority of the class members.  Whenever this word is uttered by a professor, it carries the same force as a strong expletive and is heard by everyone in the room.  You’d be surprised how silent a room can become with just the mention of this tiny, four-letter word. I’m here to tell you that it is possible to hear a pin hit the carpet in my classroom whenever I dare speak that “unmentionable” word.

Although I am well aware that my students experience severe stress and angst whenever I mention a test, their reaction in no way prevents me from preparing and administering them.  What kind of instructor would I be if I never gave my students an “opportunity” to demonstrate how much they know?  From the students’ perspective, I would be a very popular teacher but at best I would be ineffective.  Testing is good for both the student and the teacher.  For the student, the test indicates the degree to which knowledge has been mastered and for the instructor, the test is a good barometer of how knowledge has been delivered.

However, there is another side to testing which the student rarely, if ever, sees.  While the student is cramming that last bit of information into his brain, the instructor is wrestling with the same body of material, trying to present it in a manner that will be both challenging and beneficial to the student.  When the test is administered, the student takes it only once; the instructor, however, takes that test several times, once for each student in the class.

I often share this fact with my students but they rarely give me any sympathy.  I’m not surprised!  I didn’t give my professors much sympathy either when it came to tests.  I felt it was poetic justice since they had ruined my weekend!  In any event, the testing process can and does give us an interesting insight into the way God tests us and the way He understands His children.

In Hebrews 4:15 we read, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.” This is a very interesting passage of scripture and one we need to look at very carefully.  There are some insightful truths tucked away in this short statement.  We must understand that the writer here is speaking of Jesus as our great high priest.  According to the Mosaic Covenant, the high priest entered into the Holy of Holies once a year to atone for Israel’s sin.  He, himself, was just a man and the law required him to make a sacrifice for his own sins before he could make atonement for the people.  But in this chapter from Hebrews we see something completely different.

Jesus is our high priest and he makes atonement for us.  Like the High Priest, Jesus was fully man, but unlike him, he was also fully God.  I don’t understand how this can be but I believe it to be so.  This is the good part, so hang on!  Since Jesus was human, he experienced every temptation you and I experience.  That is what the passage says, read it again and you’ll see!  It is due to his humanity that Jesus is able to sympathize with us and to understand exactly what we face.

In other words, Jesus knows what it is like to take the tests we take in life, he’s already been there.  However, he did what we cannot do; he passed the test with flying colors.  We stumble and fall and we yield to the pressures of temptation around us.  These can be flagrant and aggressive or they can be subtle and approach by stealth.  But no matter what the temptation, our savior fully understands our plight. 

So, the next time you are tested, and it may be today, remember that Jesus understands what you are facing.  Not only does he make out the tests you take; he has taken them himself as well.  There is nothing we face that he has not confronted and there is no situation we experience that is unfamiliar to him.  This should give us great assurance and peace.  We do have a great teacher, one that understands us, one who sympathizes with us, and one who knows the importance of passing through periods of testing.  Remember, a test shows us how much we know, it shows us how much we have learned, and it points us to lessons yet to be mastered.  Yes, test is a four-letter word, but it isn’t something we haven’t heard before and it is something we will hear again!