There is always an interesting observation when we acquired some equipment or other goods, which looked good until we tried to use them for the purpose for which it was purchased – and then it wouldn’t work! The failure is discovered only when it was required to perform. In other words, it looked good – until it was tested.

• Many theories look good until they are tested.
• Many people look good until they are tested.
• Many seem trustworthy until they are tested.
• With every boyfriends, girlfriends, bride and groom there is an implied promise of faithfulness, love and loyalty until they are tested.
• Every borrower promises to pay.

People, principles, philosophies, theories, beliefs, convictions, all promise, in a sense, to solve problems, to stand the test. But then comes the testing time: accidents, illness, old age, death, the loss of loved one; unhappiness, depression, some tragedy, some trouble, some temptation – and then we find how workable or unworkable they are – how functional are our beliefs and philosophies.

Any rope will hold when there is no weight on it – but we need to know what we can count on when the weight is heavy, when sorrows and temptations and counter purposes are pulling hard against us. We need moral and spiritual resources that will hold tight when the test comes. It is tragic to see someone especially your love ones carrying around a fragile philosophy and belief that doesn’t sustain them under such circumstances. And it is tragic to see those who would destroy themselves because of what they believe is right, but end up to be wrong.

Someday, in the years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now… now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer.

Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process. Thank God for the old and proven principles of faith, work, morality, honesty – for principles that prove themselves when they are tested – when they are required to perform.