Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Allow me, if you will, a little liberality here. A conversation can exist within the mind of men, which does not exist within all men. Our thinking varies according to environment, education and physicality. Yet all, every one of us have the very same default setting. We all have this in common from the very beginning.

As to current programming of the mind, modified away from the default setting, program upon program being installed above and in revision to the default setting, the above verse can cause in some a rebellious response.

Wicked? I am not wicked.

Unrighteous? I am not unrighteous.

Return to the Lord? I was never with him.

Mercy? I don’t need your mercy.

Pardoned? I haven’t done anything wrong.

The default setting is love. A baby is born helpless, dependent and installed only with the capacity to love and be loved. What happens to that baby from that moment on depends on the programmers to build upon the default settings or to overwrite it.

1 John 4:8b God is love.

That love a baby is born with is pure in form and exists without expectation or demand for it knows nothing else. It will learn to expect and demand but that is not built upon the default setting of love, then the mind will overwrite it with selfishness which is the gateway to all worldly things.

John 3:3b Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

That is Jesus telling us that we need to be restored to our default settings.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Recently I had chest pain like I’d never had before. I was afraid I was having a heart attack. So I went to the emergency room and they ran an EKG and blood enzymes. They found nothing but advised me to follow up with my cardiologist immediately. I did and he ordered a stress test. Then I went in to the office for the results. During the interview process he suspected it was esophageal spasms. They mimic a heart attack, right down to responding to nitro tablets.

Test result are only obtained through testing.

The testing of your faith is done to give you the test results, that your faith is not a mimic.

If you want to insist that faith cannot be mimicked, please do, but the issue of test results is not to prove you have faith, but rather where it is to be found.

Is your faith in Christ? How do you know for sure without it being tested?

Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

The deceiver will confirm your faith without testing because the last thing he wants is for you to discover you have placed your faith in a lie.

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Count it all joy that you are tested because it is a sign your faith is in Christ.