This is a Test

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. - 2 Peter 1:8

I was born in 1957, which means that I grew up with black and white television. I can remember as a kid seeing a simple pattern appear on the screen and hearing these words:

"This is a test."

Since those early days, I have experienced many such "tests" while watching a television program, but the only time I can remember ever seeing the Emergency Broadcast System used for a true emergency was during a blizzard in New York. So, what was the purpose of the system? Why was the system tested so often? The emergency broadcast system was tested to make sure it worked properly when a real emergency arose.

Peter could have written "This is a test," over verse eight of his second letter. Your usefulness and fruitfulness in Christ will neither wane nor falter (will be ready in a "spiritual" emergency) if:

One, you possess faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love, and two, they are increasing.

This earthly life is a series of "moments" in which a person may face all kinds of trials and unexpected occurrences. In each of these moments, we have an opportunity to be fruitful or fruitless, useful or useless. Will you be ready when the "moment" arrives?

This is our test.

Great character, like massive roots, grow deep when water is sparse and winds are strong. - Charles Swindoll