“13 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 2 I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them— 3 since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God. 5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down. Final Greetings 11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you. 14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Cor 13:1-14 ESV)

Rarefied air alone is a bit like a story without a hero. Christ came that we might learn some objective measuring rod for “testing the spirits”. Any single voice, we can discern, we can search, whether… what is the criteria? Whether it is redemptive. Whether it is itself assessing, testing, portraying good as well as bad. Whether it is listening.

The world today counts on an—honestly astonishing—amount of delusion. The world today then cubbyholes around the, though provincial, limiting, de-educating, prayerful tome, calling all else worthless and unbridled, un-reigned-in liberalism. Yet to be a Christian, to test the spirits, is partly a lesson in Humility around the fact: some “other” spiritualists, they may be on a deeper mission. They may have some purpose of a more innate variant. They may be above our pay grade.

The Christian is indeed “fit” into society. They react, they respond, they enable a broadly “tested” sense of Joy, of Purpose, of Redemption. But they can’t do this in a vacuum; they must “test the spirits” to see if they are from God. And God, being no mortal man, gives to each their proper place and appropriate “level” of instruction. Life is spiritual, spirit-led, “fun”, even as astonishing evil works its evil fingers into the scene. Arguing that, if far more will die in a hotly anticipated war, well what are a few dear souls this day? Only this: that we test the spirits, and our proactive life-affirming Creed is rooted in the infant’s questions: isn’t it bad to “do murder”? Isn’t it wrong to “judge others”? Isn’t it greed to “covet”?

As soldiers of the Cross we find a place plausible only to the initiated, that amidst storms and avalanches, the Christian still holds firm, unwilling to bend to compromised spirituality, even in the name of it being “temporary”, “momentary measures”, “little compared to the onslaught that is to come”. See it in the movies or television! An armageddon is always a whisk away. We work, like Christ taught, right on through the earthquakes and the signs of doomsday. We work because each life still Matters. Each question mark, it has nothing to do with “this one police”, “this one soldier”, “this one freedom fighter”; to all and through all, we are to “test the spirits”. Because we Believe Christ worked wonders via a healthsome brand of spirit, a realization that in the warring to come, all things will be tested, simple failures will always seem bigger than the successes, we will be tempted to despair, to be antsy, to panicky deeds. 

But we are those slowly deliberating, smarter for the Experience to say nothing of our more outward test blots. We love, knowing of a level of confusion that all must go through: look, O would-be soldier, O recruit, how many things you have erred in, enough to want to crouch in apology, or self-destruct! But somehow God does the amazing deed, on display, of spirit—unprompted, uncoached, ears not whispered into—of a mighty Spiritual Puzzle. All voices one day will laud the King. The Queen. The One called Christ, Chosen to lead. And this, despite all top-down or panicky concessions to Control. God is patient and meek, and His lessons, His Gospel, His tested spirits, spirits divine and loving, will prevail.

We will never get all things right, until we submit to the Spirit as found in Scripture, as announced at Pentecost, as patient though a million distractions carry us forward. Those distractions, the hours in front of media or cultural events, are jokingly said to “take over the world”, but all this because to the one who tests the spirits, there is health here and sickness there, health in—let the churchman, churchwoman, be modest—variant spirits that work here or there on sickness in the community, but altogether on basics that would almost be presumptuous for the would-be evangelical, the one who pushes others around in the name of Christ, to delve into. Patience, young soldier, your tested spirits… God will always give you a way forward that matches your Level of education, of spiritual education, of literal education and upbringing! You will even have spectacles most healthsome, but all in accordance with a Plan that God has, minus the murder, minus the signs and portents that distract. Test the Spirits! And choose this day!

The foreboding: tomorrow, first, reassure O Pilgrim, eye hath not seen nor ear heard, what God has in plan and mind! But by then, we may have gone to a Better Place, a heavenly perch, but we plead… living or dying, here or there, let us see the history unfold! Because nurses will still nurse, children will still come up in the faith, artists will still do art, the soldier will still keep the peace, keep the people Able and Rightly enabled, to thrive and to work, to be vibrant. We look to our heavenly Commander-in-Chief. For instruction. For sane patient reactive thought. For self-forgiveness for mistakes. For Courage to click reply, to click “love”: this one, is loved. And others, too, each loved according to God’s collage and deep promise: dying shall be no less beauteous and reassuring, so fear not O soldier! The common experience, includes so many temptations, all the more so when we are doing a good deed, are in community marching to a common beat. With words such as these we reassure, we cease to be embarrassed; for the sudden introduced vehicle or the thing that is interposed. As meek soldiers there are forces more powerful than us, to which we don our cap. Others are tasked with handling these forces, and we do not judge: this one a Christian, not that one. Not quite: but rather we test the spirits. And try and live into what grand plans are already unfolding. Try, to remember, to focus on the ultimate goodnesses as seen, as encountered, as ratcheted up. All things sacrificed to the educational project. Because we thrive when in the presence of other lovers of life, of Jesus, of Creed and Coherent party atmosphere. If we do it again, it will be with joy in our hearts and lightness in our step. This much is sure.