Taking Faith for a Test Drive

 Taking Faith for a Test Drive

 

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold — though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

1 PETER 1.7

 

Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.

JOHN 6.5-6

 

It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.

HEBREWS 11.17

 

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a test? Most of us probably think about a test in school — a measurement given out to see if we pass or fail. But what does it mean when God tests our faith? Does he put us in difficult situations and then stand back to see if we will pass or fail his test?

The kind of test God puts us through isn’t really like a test in school. It’s more like the test we put a car through when we are shopping for a new vehicle. We call it taking the car for a test drive. Are we looking to see if the car passes or fails? No. We are allowing the car to show us how it works and what it feels like — to demonstrate how it operates.

When God puts us to the test, he is giving us the opportunity to experience and demonstrate what it is like to live out our faith in him. It is our chance to live out what we say we believe. And God is not standing back to see if we’ve got what it takes. He is right beside us — even in us — giving us every ounce of faith we need to put his power on display in our live