1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

I got my math test results back. I answered every question right and received a zero, F-, if there is anything less than failure I achieved it. How is that possible? I only put down the answers. It was the teacher’s responsibility to ensure I achieved the answers without cheating and to do that I had to show the steps I used to achieve those answers. I had to prove to him that I had used the lessons given.

Is it cheating to know the answers without proving your work?

Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

A tried stone, a stone tested to ensure that it is strong enough to bear the weight placed upon it. Now we who believe by faith do place our trust in that tested Cornerstone. It is not we who have been tested, but rather our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Matthew 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

Mark 12:13 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.

Luke 20:20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.

OK, but I have the answers, isn’t that good enough, since it is of faith?

Titus 1:9-10a Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,

Sound doctrine is your report card. You cannot keep the innocent from believing the gainsayers without a good report card. You must prove you have done the work.

Luke 8:13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. NIV

I use the New International Version here for the very use of the word testing. Most other bible versions use the word temptation but since I am trying to score test results, I needed a version that used testing.

Temptations are one source of faith testing for sure. Here it is seen as a testing of ground upon which the gospel has been sown. This falling away or failing the test says you don’t belong in this class. It is a qualification test. It is not the only type of testing.

James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. KJV

Now the NIV once again used testing in place of trying, but I have switched back to the KJV for a particular reason. Trying is the assertion that you belong in this class and that you are sitting down to take the test. Taking the test produces a test score. Your testing or more accurately trying out your faith, will produce results. In this case James is identifying patience as a result.

Romans 5:2-5 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Try your faith, take it out for a test run, to prove to yourself that the love of God in your heart is at work, producing results, a good report card.