Test Everything
“But test everything; hold fast what is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21
A wise person knows that in life, things must be put to the test. Scientists test their experiments. Inventors test their inventions. Car buyers test drive vehicles before purchasing. Employers test potential employees before hiring them. Law students must pass the Bar Exam before they can practice law. I could go on. The importance of putting things to the test is not only a lesson that life teaches us but is also something that God’s word repeatedly instructs us to do.
There are many reasons we put things to the test in life. But generally speaking, testing is about progressing. You can’t be a good catalyst without being a good analyst. Testing, analyzing, and assessing helps leaders identify problems that need to be fixed or changed which is essential for the catalyst to move things forward.
An inventor tests his inventions not only to see if it works but to make it better. If an employee doesn’t have a system to assess potential employees, his business will not make much progress or have good success.
God tests His children not only to refine their faith, but to reveal it. To move forward in faith you must know where you are in the faith. A faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted. We must show ourselves faithful where we are before God can move us to a greater kingdom assignment.
In the period of the Judges, (God appointed spiritual/military leaders who He used to bring His people out of bondage), we read that because of the unfaithfulness of God’s people they found themselves in great distress and oppression. Rather than making progress in the promise land, they were subjugated by the pagan nations they were called to defeat. Because of the unfaithfulness of His people, God used pagan nations to test Israel:
God could have supernaturally and without the aid of His people drove out the enemy. But doing so would not have done anything to reveal the faith of His people or to refine the faith of His people. The chief aim of the nation of Israel was to display the glory and greatness of God. And they were to do so by doing the will of God by faith and going to war for God by faith. Moreover, delivering His people without their willing and dependent cooperation would not have prepared them and the generations that followed for the battles ahead.
Concerning why God tested Israel in the period of the Judges, David Guzik explained:
The Lord cannot for our good and the good of His kingdom entrust us with the fullness of His presence, provision, and power to advance His kingdom unless we prove ourselves faithful. During Jesus’ earthly ministry John records:
There were many in Jesus’ day who believed in Him but because of their superficial faith, He didn’t entrust Himself to them. Their faith was superficial in the sense that they followed Jesus so long as He did miracles that physically blessed them. They wanted the physical blessings that Jesus could give them more than Jesus Himself. We need to trust Jesus to do miracles, but more than that, we need to trust Him, trust His sovereignty, especially in times when things are not going as we hoped.
Similarly, as God tests us, we are to test all things. In other words, before we ordain spiritual leaders and entrust ourselves to them, before we entrust ourselves to someone in marriage, before we partner with someone in ministry or in a business venture, we must put them to the test. We need to assess and discern that they have a proven track record of faithfulness to the Lord.
Moreover, to be able to have this ability to test and discern we must be men and women of the word and prayer, men and women who know God and walk in the Spirit. Recently I came across an exhortation that is worth repeating:
Amazingly, God not only exhorts us to test all things pertaining to man, but He challenges us to test Him (Malachi 3:9-11). Now there is a wrong way and a right way to test God. I appreciate how one Christian writer put it:
A word of caution: The passage in Malachi about testing God’s word was a promise to Israel in the Old Testament which involved giving a certain percentage of their resources to the temple. We must be careful not to take promises that were given to Israel and wrongly apply them to our lives. The passage in Malachi is about tithing (giving ten percent). There’s some debate today about whether or not tithing is for today. That’s a lesson for another time. But trusting God with our finances and being good stewards is a universal mandate.
All that we have has been given to us by God and we are to manage it in a way that demonstrates our faithfulness to Him and His kingdom. When we are faithful to God with our time, talents, and treasure (finances), which will be put to the test, we can trust God to continue to bless us so that we can continue to be a blessing.
Let us seek the Lord daily for discernment to test all things and hold fast to what is good. Let us seek to grow in faith through times of testing, clinging to God’s promises, (testing Him), allowing Him to refine our faith so that we might continue to fight the good fight of faith for the greater fame of Jesus.
In His service,
Pastor Marco
A wise person knows that in life, things must be put to the test. Scientists test their experiments. Inventors test their inventions. Car buyers test drive vehicles before purchasing. Employers test potential employees before hiring them. Law students must pass the Bar Exam before they can practice law. I could go on. The importance of putting things to the test is not only a lesson that life teaches us but is also something that God’s word repeatedly instructs us to do.
There are many reasons we put things to the test in life. But generally speaking, testing is about progressing. You can’t be a good catalyst without being a good analyst. Testing, analyzing, and assessing helps leaders identify problems that need to be fixed or changed which is essential for the catalyst to move things forward.
An inventor tests his inventions not only to see if it works but to make it better. If an employee doesn’t have a system to assess potential employees, his business will not make much progress or have good success.
God tests His children not only to refine their faith, but to reveal it. To move forward in faith you must know where you are in the faith. A faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted. We must show ourselves faithful where we are before God can move us to a greater kingdom assignment.
In the period of the Judges, (God appointed spiritual/military leaders who He used to bring His people out of bondage), we read that because of the unfaithfulness of God’s people they found themselves in great distress and oppression. Rather than making progress in the promise land, they were subjugated by the pagan nations they were called to defeat. Because of the unfaithfulness of His people, God used pagan nations to test Israel:
“Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.” Judges 3:1-2
God could have supernaturally and without the aid of His people drove out the enemy. But doing so would not have done anything to reveal the faith of His people or to refine the faith of His people. The chief aim of the nation of Israel was to display the glory and greatness of God. And they were to do so by doing the will of God by faith and going to war for God by faith. Moreover, delivering His people without their willing and dependent cooperation would not have prepared them and the generations that followed for the battles ahead.
Concerning why God tested Israel in the period of the Judges, David Guzik explained:
“God allowed the troublesome peoples to remain for a reason. The word test here is used in the sense of ‘proving.’ These nations would remain because God wanted to prove the faithfulness of Israel…and to improve their reliance on Him. God doesn’t just instantly change every area of a Christian’s life in order that their relationship with Him can be proved and improved. It is so they may live in true partnership with God.”
The Lord cannot for our good and the good of His kingdom entrust us with the fullness of His presence, provision, and power to advance His kingdom unless we prove ourselves faithful. During Jesus’ earthly ministry John records:
“Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” John 2:23-25
There were many in Jesus’ day who believed in Him but because of their superficial faith, He didn’t entrust Himself to them. Their faith was superficial in the sense that they followed Jesus so long as He did miracles that physically blessed them. They wanted the physical blessings that Jesus could give them more than Jesus Himself. We need to trust Jesus to do miracles, but more than that, we need to trust Him, trust His sovereignty, especially in times when things are not going as we hoped.
Similarly, as God tests us, we are to test all things. In other words, before we ordain spiritual leaders and entrust ourselves to them, before we entrust ourselves to someone in marriage, before we partner with someone in ministry or in a business venture, we must put them to the test. We need to assess and discern that they have a proven track record of faithfulness to the Lord.
Moreover, to be able to have this ability to test and discern we must be men and women of the word and prayer, men and women who know God and walk in the Spirit. Recently I came across an exhortation that is worth repeating:
"Start verifying fruit before granting people access. Your discernment is necessary in this season. Some people have a mouth full of scripture and a heart full of foolishness."
Amazingly, God not only exhorts us to test all things pertaining to man, but He challenges us to test Him (Malachi 3:9-11). Now there is a wrong way and a right way to test God. I appreciate how one Christian writer put it:
“There is a difference in ‘testing’ God by ‘contesting’ Him (seeing how far God’s patience will go with your own self will) and ‘testing,’ or proving God’s Word is true…As you ‘test’ or act on what God says and experience God’s blessing, your faith grows.” Rebecca Jordan
A word of caution: The passage in Malachi about testing God’s word was a promise to Israel in the Old Testament which involved giving a certain percentage of their resources to the temple. We must be careful not to take promises that were given to Israel and wrongly apply them to our lives. The passage in Malachi is about tithing (giving ten percent). There’s some debate today about whether or not tithing is for today. That’s a lesson for another time. But trusting God with our finances and being good stewards is a universal mandate.
All that we have has been given to us by God and we are to manage it in a way that demonstrates our faithfulness to Him and His kingdom. When we are faithful to God with our time, talents, and treasure (finances), which will be put to the test, we can trust God to continue to bless us so that we can continue to be a blessing.
Let us seek the Lord daily for discernment to test all things and hold fast to what is good. Let us seek to grow in faith through times of testing, clinging to God’s promises, (testing Him), allowing Him to refine our faith so that we might continue to fight the good fight of faith for the greater fame of Jesus.
In His service,
Pastor Marco