By Xiaoyun

Everyone wants to get good grades in his exams and I was no exception. If I get good grades and have good results, I can get prizes, receive praise from my parents, and more importantly, I can be liked by my teachers and envied by my classmates.

I recalled my final exam of the first term in Grade Four. at that time, everything went smoothly during the math exam at first, but the last word problem stumped me. No matter how hard I thought, I still could do nothing about it. There were 6 points for this problem. If I couldn’t solve it, I could only get 94 points. I was unwilling to lose the 6 points, so I wanted to ask Classmate Zhong sitting beside me who was good at math and should be able to solve it. I looked up at the invigilator, who was bowing her head and looking at the computer. I thought: This is a good chance, but how should I say this? Just then, Classmate Zhong asked me in a low voice, “Hey, how did you solve this problem?” Unexpectedly he asked me first. So we exchanged the answers we each needed.

After I got home, my mother asked me suddenly, “How is the exam today? Is there anything wrong?” Immediately I thought of the matter that I cheated in the exam. And suddenly I felt somewhat uncomfortable: I have cheated in the exam. I am a child believing in God. If I tell my mother about my cheating, she will surely scold me. But if I don’t say it, my mother indeed won’t know, while God does know it, for God inspects people’s hearts. I hesitated for a moment, and suddenly I remembered my mother saying that whatever we encounter, we should pray to God and rely on God. So I prayed to God in my heart silently, “O God! Today I have cheated, and my mother asked me about my exam after I came home. However, I don’t dare to say it for fear that she would criticize me. God, I hope You can help me to be an honest person and be willing to tell the truth to my mother.” After the prayer, I had the courage to speak honestly, and then I told my mother about my cheating in the exam.

My mother asked me, “When you were cheating, have you ever thought that God doesn’t like it?” I felt somewhat bad: Right! Why hadn’t I thought of that at that moment? My mother fellowshiped with me about the truth of being an honest person, in which there was a following passage of God’s words: “All that you do, every action, every intent, and every reaction must be brought before God. … It is such practice that will help you mature in life. The process of accepting God’s observation is the process of purification. The more you accept God’s observation, the more you are purified, and the more you are in accord with God’s will, so that you will not hear the call of debauchery and dissipation, and your heart will live in His presence. The more you accept His observation, the more ashamed Satan is and the more you are able to forsake the flesh.” I reflected on myself while listening to my mother. I realized that my cheating in the exam and not wanting to tell my mother were all deceitful manifestations. And I also realized that I wanted to score higher by cheating was for the purpose that the teachers would like me and my classmates would envy me. God knew my heart, and I felt incomparable miserable for I wasn’t an honest person. I prayed to God silently, “O God! I have cheated today, and I’m willing to repent. If I encounter such things afterward, I hope You can help me practice the truth, and stand witness for You….”

Later, the results came out, and I got 100 points in the math exam. But I wasn’t happy and felt that I didn’t get 100 points in the presence of God.

In the blink of an eye the final exam of the second term in Grade Four was close at hand. Once the teacher asked us to do the test paper he set. The paper was pretty difficult, many problems in which I couldn’t work out. Again I wanted to ask my classmate, but then I thought of my prayer before God last time, so I gave up. Several days later, the teacher passed out the papers to us. He explained the answers and let us mark our papers and calculate the total marks by ourselves. I calculated and found that I only got 59 points—not passing the exam, which made me unable to accept. How ashamed I was! Just then, the teacher said that he would count how many students got the wrong answers for each problem and that when it came to each problem, the ones who made mistakes should stand up. I felt a little embarrassed. I have done so many problems wrong, and then how will the teacher see me if I stand up again and again? Usually I was a top student in our class. If the teacher knows that I did so badly in this exam, then could it be that the teacher won’t like me? Thinking of this, I thought: Well, I’ll stand up fewer times. Just then, again I thought of my mother saying that whatever we encountered, we should pray to God and seek God’s will. So I prayed to God in my heart silently: “O God! I hope You can help me so that I can be an honest person instead of safeguarding my own reputation….” After praying, I thought of God’s words: “Behaving like a normal human being is to speak with coherence. Yes means yes, no means no. Be true to the facts and speak appropriately. Don’t cheat, don’t lie.” Right! The likeness of a normal human being is to be an honest person. At the very least an honest person should achieve to call a spade a spade and not to cheat. I want to be an honest person because God likes the honest. Thinking of this, I determined not to safeguard my own face and put into practice being an honest person. However, when I stood up, my heart beat hard. I said to myself, “No matter how the teacher will judge me, it is OK as long as I am in accord with God’s heart.” However, it turned out that the teacher didn’t look down upon me after this matter, and he was good to me as before. In this matter, I put into practice being an honest person. How happy I was!

Before long, it was the time for the final exam. In the math exam, there were again several problems I couldn’t work out. I thought: This is the final exam, which is more important than the usual monthly exam, and it’s best to get high marks. I saw a classmate in front asking another classmate beside him. The invigilator didn’t notice that. So I also wanted to ask my deskmate. But then I thought of my cheating last time. I had prayed to God that I would learn to be an honest person and wouldn’t be deceitful to God. So I prayed to God silently in my heart: “O God! I want to cheat again, but I have prayed to You and resolved not to cheat again. May You lead me to be an honest person, to be serious in the exam and answer the problems as possible as I can, not thinking about copying my classmate’s answers anymore.” After I prayed, I could calm down and be careful to think the problems. Unwittingly, I suddenly knew how to solve some of them. I was very glad and knew that it was God who led and enlightened me. I got 96 points in the math exam this time, which was better than what I had imagined. If I had cheated, the marks would probably have been higher, but I would have lost testimony in God’s eyes. I felt very happy and assured to practice God’s words.

Getting high marks is good, as it will make the teachers and my parents like me, and my classmates will envy me, but it cannot make me happy. Instead, only when I act as an honest person according to God’s words, I get the true happiness. And this is the most important.