What many have never realized is that the very life they are living at this very moment is a test, the ultimate test. It is the ultimate puzzle, the ultimate question and answer, the ultimate essay, the ultimate thesis.
Many will say no it is not, but yes it is. They will then say there is no instruction, no rules so it is no test, but yes there is. We are told within it that all must teach the children, before the age of accountability, these rules so when the time comes they will be well prepared on which turn within the maze of life they should take on that particular moment on a particular day. Many times there will be multiple choice questions given and it is up to the person to answer. Sometimes with only less than a second to respond then there will be other days that it can take minutes, hours, days and even years to answer the question correctly. It is a test that has a passing grade and a failing grade, and far too many that think they are passing are failing at this time. Because it is either or, not somewhere in the middle, for there is no middle.
But what is this instruction manual? What is the grading system? It is the Bible and the grading system is following it and not doing what it says you must not do. Yet many go about this world today saying: “that is a lie that is not true. I can live in my sin and God will still accept me as I am.” BBBUUUUZZZZZ …. Automatic fail, sorry wrong answer, not going to work.
One of the primary rules after asking Jesus Christ into your heart is to repent from sin.
In the Hebrew repent is “nacham” which means to be sorry, but in the Greek it is “metanoeo,” which means to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider. To be sorry for what you have done yet to reconsider your lifestyle and to start to think differently; to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins. In the Hebrew there was the sacrifice to fall back upon, but that was taken away when Christ hung upon the cross in our place. Now we must turn away from the sin for we have no sacrifice to fall back upon to cleanse us once again for Christ cannot return onto that cross again. (Hebrews 6:4-8)
If you live in a sin and are not made sick to your stomach when you slip and fall back into it then you have not experienced true repentance. You love the sin over your desire to be one of the winners, one of the ones that God will acknowledge as having passed His many tests. Any that says you can live within your sin and still be one with God has lied to you for they themselves have failed the test and do not wish to be within the loser circle allow. For misery truly does enjoy company.
This is why it is so important to read the instruction manual, the Bible. Know what is truly right and know what is truly bad. Too many think they can live their lives as if just saying the words: “I am a Christian” is enough, it is not. You must truly live the life of a Christian. Will we slip and fall time to time? Yes we will, but if we have a truly repentant heart then we will strife not to repeat that particular sin once again because it will sicken our hearts and our stomachs at having failed God. How do I know this? Because that is how I feel every time I let God down.
You cannot live in a sin and even attempt to legitimize it through the laws of man for only the laws of God truly apply within this test. If you attempt to legitimize it you are in actuality compounding that sin for by legitimizing it you are saying the sin is greater than God and nothing is greater than Him.
This is what needs to be taught. This is what needs to be understood. For as a “Christian” we are told to love all, but to truly give this love we must reprove, rebuke and exhort (2 Timothy 4:1-5). What I am doing here is exhorting. I am trying to explain in love that if you truly wish to live the eternal life which is the reward for passing the test, which is this present life, you must turn away from sin, not embrace it and say to yourself “God loves me as I am.” Yes God loves you, but he hates the sin, so how can He fully love you if you are tainted with something that repels Him. Love is a two way street, if you truly and completely love God as we are told we must do (Mark 12:30), then you will willingly turn from your sin. Will it be painful? Yes, for God is our parent and a parent chastises that which he loves (Proverb 13:24). Any that says otherwise has failed the test. Any not willing to hear, has failed the test. There will be millions of winners, but there will be billions of losers, for the road to everlasting life is a narrow and arduous road(Matthew 7:13-14), but it is a road that must be taken if you wish to pass the ultimate test.