There is no harder task in teaching than grading and assessing student work. One would think it would be straight forward and objective, but it is not. Some instructors use multiple choice questions because they seemingly have only one answer; however, those answers were derived by one particular individual, and unless the question is a simple fact, multiple choice answers leave many nuances unexplored.

Because of the limitations of a multiple choice exam, other instructors bite the bullet and give an essay exam, which allows students to provide as much information and explanation as they want to demonstrate their knowledge, but creates a more lengthy grading process. However again, the question and the envisioned answer were created by one individual and so can still be rather subjective.

Right about now students are in the middle of mid-terms, that half way point in the semester where instructors test them on the knowledge they should have acquired so far. Some instructors who feel their test is extremely difficult and want to be sure that students are not unduly penalized will use a Grading Curve. The idea here is that the percentage for the top score will be the max for the class, thereby reducing the number of points a student needs to earn to receive a high grade.

However, a grading curve is a catch 22. It is great if all of the students did lousy but not much good at all if Mr. or Miss Hotshot blew the test out of the water. Not much will have changed and those top students will be the only ones to benefit from it.

Many believe God works off of a grading curve. That a person’s worth or salvation is determined in light of someone else’s behavior or performance, and so a person only has to be better than the next guy. Fortunately, this is not the case.

First, God’s standard is not ambiguous. It is straight forward: perfection--complete sinlessness, and Romans 8:28 tells us that none of us have achieved that: “For all have sinned and fall short or the Glory of God.” As unfair as some people believe this is (I am on the same level as a murderer?), it is actually the most secure position we can be in. It takes all the guessing out of the equation.

Second, if we have all sinned, then we all need a savior. Fortunately, we have one. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Finally, God’s love for us is not conditional. It does not hinge on how good we are or how many wonderful things we have achieved. Romans 5:8 reminds us “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Such love provides the ultimate security, for as 1 John 4:18 says: “Perfect love casts out fear.”

Therefore, in the test for eternity, the grading is very simple. Saved by accepting  God’s free gift of salvation or not saved for rejecting it.

Weekends. Days Off. Vacations.

I don’t know about you, but for the most part, I am a get up and go kind of person when I have free time. Weekends are filled with activity, days off are usually on a golf course, and vacations are jam packed from sun up to sun down. I don’t want to miss a thing or waste a minute of my time.

FORTUNATELY, I have siblings who are NOT like me, and FORTUNATELY, they allow me to go on vacation with them—on occasion. On said occasions, I do not get to dictate the pace of the day. They do. And what I have learned, albeit a hard lesson at times, is that taking time to rest is a wonderful thing. I have also learned that I can still do pretty much all that I want to do even if I take time to rest.

I appreciate this lesson. When I come home from one of these vacations or at the end of one of these days, I am relaxed and renewed, not tired.

I can take solace in the thought that King David might have been a bit like me in this respect, for he writes in Psalm 23 that God “makes me to lie down in green pastures.” Doesn’t sound like he willingly took time to smell the roses either.
We need rest. Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that there is a time for everything. And even though it doesn’t mention rest specifically, the very fact that God Himself deemed it necessary to rest after creation is evidence enough that rest is a God-given gift. One that we should embrace and enjoy.

But we should also remember that finding perfect rest is more than just renewing and reviving ourselves physically and emotionally on our time off. Complete and perfect rest comes from giving our cares to Jesus to handle and knowing that our eternity is secure.  Matthew 11:28-30 states it so well when Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

May Peace and Perfect Rest be with you this week.

I received an email last week from a friend. The conversation went sort of like this.

Friend: “Have you stopped writing your blog?”
Me: “No. Why? Are you not getting it?”
Friend: “No. I haven’t received one for almost a month now.”
(I now go and check the email list.)
Me: “It looks like you unsubscribed?”
Friend: “I did? I certainly didn’t mean to. . . . Should have known I was the problem.”
Me: “Trust me. When a computer is involved, it is the computer.”

And that’s when it hit me.

This conversation was sounding remarkably similar to the Priscilla Shirer women’s Bible study on the Armor of God that I just started. We have only completed three weeks, but the bottom line upon which she will build her study is this: Most of us are fighting the wrong enemy. What or who we think is the problem, really isn't.

We are physical people, so when something goes wrong, we ferret out the physical culprit and lay the blame at his or her or its feet. Someone wrongs us. Someone forgets about us. Something unexpected happens and our plans are ruined, and we start pointing fingers and placing blame. But Priscilla reminds us that the battle is not between us. The war is much bigger and behind the physical scenes as Ephesians 6:12 tells us: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Now, that is quite an enemy.

But Satan doesn’t want us to focus on him. He doesn’t want us to know that he is following a war strategy he has specifically developed for each one of us to undermine our strengths and play on our weaknesses. No, he wants us fighting against each other, laying blame, pointing fingers so that he can just keep on doing what he is doing and we can continue focusing on the wrong enemy and never escape our anger or hurt or bitterness.

Do you ever wonder why certain types of situations that push all our emotional buttons keep popping up in our life? They will until we realize that Satan knows he can still get that unhealthy reaction with it. Priscilla reminds us that until we don God's armor and create our own war strategy, until we look past that physical player in the difficult scenario to the silent strategist behind the scenes,  we will forever be fighting the wrong enemy in the wrong battle.

Life is filled with seasons of fullness and seasons of loss. It is during those times of loss, when voids and vacuums are created that we can be extremely vulnerable. Voids have to be filled. Vacuums, unless replaced with something else, will suck the old or the unhealthy right back in.

For instance, when we choose to diet, high calorie foods often have to go, and unfortunately, those are usually the foods we really like. If we don’t replace them with something else, a healthy but tasty option, or if we just allow ourselves to go hungry, we usually end up giving up on the diet completely and going back to our old eating patterns because we can’t sustain it.

Likewise, when a job ends, time sometimes weighs heavy on our hands until we fill that void with something that once again gives us a purpose. If a friend moves away or severs the relationship, the relational void needs to be filled or we find ourselves struggling. Even changing our thinking involves filling a void or if we don’t want the old unwanted thoughts to come rushing back in.

Some celebrities often talk about how if there hadn’t been an after-school program, or a teacher or coach, or a father or mother figure who stepped in to fill a void, they might have ended up living a very unhealthy life. Many of us could say the same.

Once again, the Bible speaks to this very real life issue of needing to fill voids in our thoughts and life and encourages us to fill them with things that are uplifting and provide real power.

Ephesians 5:8 says, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.”

Colossians 1:9 finds Paul praying for the Colossians saying, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”

And as we have looked at over the last few months, Philippians 4:8 reminds us to think on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, for if we don’t fill our minds with these kinds of things, then lies and impure thoughts will come rushing in.

Whether or our own choosing or not, voids are inevitable. Loss is a part of life and often we have no choice in it, but we do have a choice on how we are going to fill the empty space created.