Everyone wants to be perfect (mature) and complete, lacking nothing. But nobody wants to go through persecutions, trials, or tests.
Tests are good, for how would you ever know if you passed if you never took a test? In education, tests help determine achievement, so not ever having your faith tested would be like being promoted to the next level without ever taking a test. Think about it like this. You take tests in school to find out what you learned. But you also find out what you didn’t learn. Have you ever noticed that after people take a test they don’t ask
about the questions they knew, they ask about the ones they didn't know?
When your faith is tested you can find out your weaknesses or what you didn't know and learn from them.
Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."
Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge."
Faith comes by hearing and having a knowledge of God's Word. That's why II Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does
not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The King James Version says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God.”
You must study so when you are tested you can be approved.
I Peter 1:7 says, “....that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,”
A test, trial, or temptation can cause one to quit or stray, but temptations are not from God.
James 1:13-15 says, "Let no man say
when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempt he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.”
The various trials
that test our faith are compared to fire; these trials refer to persecution. When we are persecuted and endure hard times because of our Christian faith, yet continue to serve God, the genuineness of our faith is revealed.
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