Act Like It

This morning I am thinking about one particular type of test I used to have to take in my high school biology, chemistry, and anatomy classes.  It was called a “practical.”  I always did very well on traditional kinds of tests, such as the true or false, matching, and fill-in-the-blank types.  But, oh, how I dreaded the practical!  To someone who dislikes math, I guess a practical would be equivalent to having an entire test full of word problems.  Stretching me far beyond my comfort level of memorizing discrete facts and isolated bits of information, practicals required me to synthesize and apply inert head knowledge to problems in actual situations.  At the time, I certainly did not understand or appreciate the value of these very challenging tests.  That appreciation didn’t come until I was a bit older, when it occurred to me that people generally don’t walk around asking each other to recite random facts.  Instead, the authentic interactions and relationships between people are deeply rooted in context, experience, and meaning.  This is on my mind today because I find myself smack dab in the middle of a rather difficult, real-life practical…a test of faith such as I have never experienced before.  My initial reaction was a sense of panic, and I honestly feared that I would surely be getting a big, fat “F.”  With a spirit of heaviness hanging over me like a suffocating blanket, I had almost resolved to accept my lot as a loser this time.  But, from deep inside my soul I could hear the voice of my Teacher saying, “I will not let you fail!”  Out of my brokenness, I replied honestly, “I know what Your Word says, but I just don’t know what to do.”  The answer was simple, yet profound:  “If you know what My Word says, ACT LIKE IT.”  I pondered this for a while, and then I reached for my Bible.  I flipped through until I came to this highlighted passage:  “But Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head” (Psalm 3:3).  Now, I had memorized this passage years ago.  I even sing a song about it.  Yet this time, after reading these words, I told myself, “You’ve said it, you’ve sung it…now act like it.”  I continued to turn the pages, reading other highlighted passages.  As I did, I marveled at the disconnect between the words I knew how to speak so well and the ways I have often behaved during times of trial and testing.  It was overwhelmingly clear to me that I cannot be content to simply be able to quote scriptures or expound upon them, however eloquently.  For every precious person God has placed in my life, I want to be a genuine, living example of faith, joy, hope, forgiveness, wisdom, kindness, and love in real life.  I guess it doesn’t get any more practical than that.