Our Life Is a Series of Tests
Our Life Is a Series of Tests¹
Yes, the life of every human being is a series of tests: in which his psyche and feelings are tested, his intentions and thoughts, and everything he does or says. Based on these tests, his destiny and eternity are determined when he stands before God, the just Judge, on the last day. These tests are known to every person and are summarized in one question: what is his position toward the commandments of God?
What is remarkable in these tests is that God—blessed be His name—does not leave the human being alone in them; rather, grace helps him according to the extent to which he accepts this grace and cooperates with it. These tests remain with him every day, throughout his entire life, and in all stages of life, and through them his personality and his rank in eternity and also on earth are evaluated.
-
Some people did not live long, so their period of testing was short, but before God it was sufficient, expressing the type of personality, its spirituality and struggle, and the extent of love it contained toward God and people. For the testing of a person is not merely a test of a specific period of his life, but of life as a whole in general, because some may go through a period of weakness due to certain sudden reasons, but this does not indicate the nature of his entire life; rather, it is a period of lukewarmness or a fall after which he straightened and grew in grace. Perhaps the beginning period may be bad, such as the life of Saint Augustine and others in whom repentance entered their lives and changed their course completely to the opposite. And our tender and merciful God does not take a person suddenly at a moment of weakness, but rather gives him opportunities through other tests to correct the course of his life. What matters in the tests is not the type of the test, but the person’s attitude toward it.
-
Some may ask: what is the need for these tests as long as God knows our reality without testing us? Yet through this test, the human being knows himself; and if he falls, he knows the points of weakness within him, and he knows the direction of his will. And if he is punished, he does not complain, but rather says deep within himself: “We received what we deserved justly.”
Through his knowledge of his weakness, he becomes humble, repents, and becomes precise in his life and his behavior so that he may not fall again. Also, the testing of any person becomes a lesson for others as well. Moreover, tests are also a field for reward if a person succeeds in them. According to the saying of one of the saints: “No one is crowned unless he has overcome, and no one overcomes unless he has fought,” that is, the one whose courage has been tested. Likewise, in heaven a person receives the crowns prepared for the victorious.
The ways of testing, their means, and their sources are many: some come from the person himself, some may come because of troubles from people, and some come to the righteous from the envy of the devils and their schemes.
Many circumstances occur in the life of every person and become a test for him. What matters is not from which source the test came, but what matters is the person’s steadfastness and success. Like a student who faces certain questions: what matters is not the type of subject in which he is tested, but the type of his answer and the extent of his understanding.
-
A person may be tested by a particular point of weakness within him. There is a person whose greatest point of weakness is sexual matters. Another’s point of weakness is the love of money. A third’s point of weakness is the love of authority or the love of appearance, or harshness of temperament. His life may be free of other weaknesses, and what is required of him is to succeed in the point of weakness that he has.
A person may also be tested by the taking away of something from him. For example, the one whom the Lord asks to give a portion of his money to the poor—does he give or not? Does he excuse himself with reasons that may not be true? Or does he postpone? Or does he give while murmuring? The Lord also tests him by sanctifying one day of the week for Him—does he fulfill this or become occupied with other matters and forget that this is the Lord’s Day?
A person may be tested by illnesses or by afflictions. Does he murmur and attribute this to God who allowed the illness or the affliction, and does his love for God decrease, especially if he prayed and God did not answer his prayer, or delayed in responding? But the righteous person does not have his heart changed by the changing circumstances that occur to him. Rather, in all his afflictions he says: “The bitter that the Lord chooses for me is better than the honey that I choose for myself,” and “Everything You allow, O Lord, I accept with thanksgiving.”
A person may be tested by temptations, whether bodily temptations, financial temptations, or those related to positions and titles, or any other lust to which a person is exposed. We notice that the martyrs were not fought only by torture, but some of them were fought by certain temptations, which they rejected.
Perhaps a person may be tested by success and greatness. Does his heart become lifted up by that? Does he exalt himself over others and lose his humility, or does he remain as he is? One of the writers said about such a person that he “grows without becoming proud, and preserves his steadiness in his leaps.”
Such a test also happens to those whom God blesses with certain talents, such as intelligence, for example, or beauty, or brilliance in art, or any extraordinary gifts. How do these people use their talents? And do their hearts become lifted up because of them?
Sometimes rebuke is a test of the strength of endurance. If the one who rebukes is harsh in tone and shows you your mistakes toward him and toward others, do you accept the rebuke with an open heart and a good spirit, gain the one who rebukes you, and gain the virtue of endurance? Or do you revolt and protest, and consider the exposure of your mistakes an insult to you? The same situation applies to the one who speaks to you frankly and without flattery—you may be upset with him and lose him!
Every harsh word directed to you and every bad treatment you receive are all tests of your personality and of your stance toward them. Here reactions differ among many according to the type of their temperaments, their personalities, their spirituality, and the type of their dealings with people.
And you, dear reader, may say that you love all people, and that you are ready to give yourself for some of your friends and loved ones. Then you are confronted with one action from one of them that you did not expect—a bad action. But it is a test of the love you speak about: is it a love that can forgive? Or is it the type that cannot endure, quickly transforms, and changes?
Truly, love is not in words, but rather it is subject to testing.
Do not be distressed, my brother, by the tests, but rather try to be successful in them, steadfast and strong.
¹ An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Al-Ahram newspaper on 3-8-2008.
For better translation support, please contact the center.
