Talk is cheap. Coming from someone who’s love language is words of affirmation – this is a hard pill to swallow. Let me unfold this..

Words matter. The way we talk about ourselves, others, our future and our relationships all make a huge impact on us and those around us. BUT. Sometimes words spoken need to be tested first.

We may even fool ourselves with how we speak. So it’s not a malicious thing necessarily but if you say you would never ever do this or that thing and then the heat is turned up and you’re tested in that area and you do the exact thing you said you wouldn’t. Now your character has been tested. It doesn’t mean you don’t think that thing is bad, it means you failed the test and now you can see why you believe what you do.

This is why wise people listen but really only believe about 80% of what you’re saying. The other 20% percent of it is something that needs to be tested by action.

Sometimes we can think we hold a conviction but when the heat is turned up, that conviction can be refined. When we make a wrong decision and see it in retrospect as bad, that’s fine get back on your feet and determine to do it right next time! Don’t let the test keep you down.

Repentance isn’t just asking for forgiveness, it is also turning the other way. Repentance is empowering. We get to see our error and get it right. This time though, we have a testimony that empowers God to be in our life through our mistake. Shame has no place because there is now godly purpose in its place!

When doing the wrong thing is easier or maybe even a shortcut but we resolve to do the right thing and it takes longer or feels inconvenient. This is how we can come out stronger in our why. Has your why been tested?

Don’t look like the world. Why?
Don’t talk like the world and cuss, gossip, slander people. Why?
Don’t drink to get drunk. Why?
Don’t lie, big or small. Why?
Don’t spend all your savings account. Why?

The why being tested on these simple things is what helps our why to become personal to us and impenetrable. We can pass the test of our resolve.

Walk it out with holy conviction. When it’s tested, that truth just goes in deeper. This is why the wise watch actions a little more than just words because the wise have been tested and know themselves too.

“For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1:3-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬