Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
Lesha, are there are any biblical principles we can apply to grading and testing?

Lesha Myers:
You know, Mike, there really are! I was surprised because I had thought that grading was a secular concept, but it’s not! A while back, I was reading Kings and Chronicles for my devotions, and I noticed a recurring phrase that summed up the reign of each king of Judah in Israel. It was either, “and he did right in the sight of the Lord, like his father, David,” or “and he did evil in the sight of the Lord,” or something in between. And I realized that God was grading the king! He set a standard, the life of David, and then He evaluated each king according to the standard, and He summed up His evaluation—gave a grade, if you will—in a phrase.

The Bible also says quite a bit about testing. For example, Jesus Christ tested His disciples as part of their training. Before He fed the 5,000, Jesus asked Phillip to provide bread for the multitude, and in John 6:5 it says “He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do.” The test was for Philip’s benefit, so that he would grow in his faith and trust in the Lord. Grading is a very biblical concept. There are quite a few principles we can glean from the Bible’s pages.

Mike:
Well, thank you, Lesha. That is tremendous insight. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.