Through putting us in a variety of situations the Lord tests our hearts.
The Lord is in his holy temple … He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. (Psalm 11:4NIV)
He examines us, both good and bad giving us opportunities to show a love that goes beyond us, a love born of faith. If we love then-
Whoever loves God is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:3NIV)
These acts of love are the catalyst to working out a relationship with God. It is also transformational making us the people we are meant to be.
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27NIV)
Of course, we also fail. Yet, if we bring our failures to God, then together we can work on them to overcome their roots and allow God to develop me to meet the challenge next time round.
If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1John 1:7NIV)
Often when faced with such a challenge we fall short and lie to ourselves out of self-protection. This hardening of ourselves against the truth of failure also hardens ourselves against the love of God. We have deprived both ourselves and God from knowing who we really are and we fail to attain to the person we are supposed to be.