Test Everything

In a previous post, “Test Everything… and Think!”, I addressed an all too common problem among Christianity—a lack of examining, testing, questioning, and confirming our beliefs, thoughts, actions, etc. However, I believe this idea of testing beliefs and manners of conduct is very much attached to the idea of what I will call “Biblical discontentment.”

Now, obviously I am not referring to being discontent with the circumstances that God gives us. In Philippians 4:13 Paul said that he could be content in all circumstances through the One strengthening him (cf. v.11-12). The type of discontentment I am referring to here is not contrary to the contentment Paul had in mind in these verses.

The three months before my wedding I rented a room from a nice couple I knew through school. In their kitchen they had a small decorative plate mounted on the wall with a prayer printed on it. This prayer does a very good job summarizing the correct perspective on contentment that I am trying to present in this article:
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1 Thessalonians 5:21 – But test everything; hold fast what is good.

We live in a world that doesn’t like to come to conclusions. Think about it for a second. Coming to a conclusion on something involves thinking, effort, eliminating options, deciding, the possibility of being wrong, inevitably disagreeing with someone, and probably the biggest factor, quite possibly having to change one’s beliefs or even have an entire paradigm shift.

As G.K. Chesterton said, “The purpose of an open mind is the same as that of an open mouth, that it might close on something.” Frankly, in a world where objective truth is an oxymoron, most people don’t care much about “closing on something.”
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