Could It Be a False NEGATIVE?
He was not at worship last week. He apparently had strep. Our dear friend, an Elder, rarely missed worship and had rarely been sick.
Thankfully, he was back this past Sunday. He told us that a funny thing had happened on the way to his strep diagnosis.
He went to the hospital urgent care facility in our town. He had a very sore throat and was tested there for strep. The test was NEGATIVE. He asked the physician’s assistant for an antibiotic since his throat was infected and he had chills. He was sure he had strep. She told him that she would not prescribe it and for him just to ride it out.
Our brother left feeling miserable and a little bit upset. He knew he needed an antibiotic. (Some of us are old enough to know our own bodies very well!)
He then waited about an hour, got even more sick and miserable, and decided to drive across town to a different Walk-in Clinic. They looked at his throat, took a Covid and a strep test and the strep test came back POSITIVE.
Wait a minute! Just a while ago, at a different location, the test was NEGATIVE. This is happening all over the world and in many people’s lives. The fact is . . . you can’t always trust the tests! They are man-made and fallible. They don’t always get it right.
There is one “test” however, that will not be wrong! The Bible tells us that “God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
We know that we “must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
When we get to the last testing place, there will be no false positives and no false negatives! Jesus Christ will KNOW completely the souls of men and the lives we have lived on this earth.
Sisters, may we make it our goal to live daily knowing that we will stand before Our Lord and Savior with a TRUE POSITIVE test . . . a TRUE POSITIVE for a life lived in Christ, covered by His blood, and redeemed!
Only by living that spiritually healthy life will we be welcomed into our heavenly home as a child of God and a joint heir with Christ for eternity!
In Him,
Sheila
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