Life Is an Open Book Test
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
As a high school teacher, I sometimes caught students cheating on tests. One girl hid her “cheat sheet” inside her jacket. Other students tried different hiding places, but it wasn’t too difficult to catch them. Yet, I felt bad punishing them—after all, they’d worked hard to prepare their cheat sheets, which actually helped them learn the content they were being tested on.
Before long I changed my approach to testing, giving only “open book” tests. I encouraged students to prepare notes and other resources to help them. And my tests became harder, less about recalling facts and more about applying knowledge. The “open book” test better represented real world knowledge.
This experience made me realize that life is like an open book test. Every day we make decisions about what to do and what not to do, how to spend our time, and how to address challenges that come our way. What we decide and the course of action we take makes all the difference. Our decisions are influenced by where we get our information. As Christians we want to make decisions in accordance with God’s will and purpose for us and the best way to do that is to be in his word. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed” meaning that it comes from God! And, as the rest of the verse explains it’s given to help us, being “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” The result is that we are “thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Remember, life is an open book test; don’t take the test without opening the book.
Having begun as a guest speaker in 2005, Dan was appointed Interim Pastor in 2008 and has been serving Maple Root Baptist ever since. As a small group leader and Chaplin for the Connecticut Tigers, Dan has a heart for the lost and the God that saves them.