We are a rather skeptical bunch.
We want the report, a report on who wrote the report, and we’d still like to touch the thing ourselves. For the information age has blessed us with an incredulous attitude coupled with an insatiable appetite for data.
The result is a group of consumers who fancy themselves investigative reporters, constantly scouring reviews for truth. Take for example the modern process of purchasing a vehicle.
We begin by exhaustively researching vehicles and their associated prices online, toggling every option available. When the timing is right we descend upon our dealership of choice in search of just the make, model, trim, and even color we had pre-selected. Once located, we began an exhaustive review. We open all the doors, check the buttons, and then set off on a test-drive. We accelerate, brake, listen to how the car sounds, and feel how it handles. It’s only after this critical hands-on trial in the real world that we elect to return to the dealership and weigh our purchase. For physically performing in the environment is a powerful testament that resonates with us, giving us confidence in the vehicle’s competence.
“Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere, hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.”
As Paul expresses in the verse above, this testing applies well beyond the purchase of an automobile. Like we investigate and test drive a car to ensure it works, we must also examine and test drive our faith. To take ourselves and our faith out into the environment and navigate real life.
Said another way, true testing is not something one can accomplish sitting alone in quiet contemplation. For in a controlled environment anything is possible, and hypothetical questions only beget hypothetical answers.
“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after your own; the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
For information is something anyone can receive, but real confidence and peace only come from testing. It won’t be perfect, but we can only start to make corrections after we have identified our gaps and shortcomings. Maybe it is time to stop thinking about it and get out there.