“Testing” is a common part of the Christian life and is blessed by the Lord. When I mention “testing,” I would assume we probably all jump first to the idea of being tested as believers. James starts out his book with that type of testing when he writes: … you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance (James 1:3).
There is another kind of testing in the Bible. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 John 4:1). Here we as mature followers of Christ are the ones who do the testing, rather than being the ones . . . . who are tested through the trials, tribulations, and challenges of this world.
What are the “spirits” we need to test? There are more than we could number, and new “spirits” pop up every day! Here are just a few to consider:
- The spirit of “everyone has their own truth which is just as good as any other truth” instead of God’s truth being above all.
- The spirit of “filling our lives with pleasure and convenience” instead of seeking God’s kingdom.
- The spirit of “trying to find God’s eternal favor in our obedience to his commands” instead of through faith in Christ.
You can add to the list a few “human spirits” that you are familiar with. And, of course, behind all the spirits that are not of God are the devil and the evil angels striving with all their might to come up with anything that will lead people away from Christ.
Things are not always what they seem. We know that. One of the biggest dangers for our personal faith, and for the spiritual health of a congregation, is to just accept any teaching claiming to be from God without checking the Word first.
In the end, the aim is not to be critical just for the sake of criticizing. We want to honor Jesus Christ who came in the flesh to teach us about his kingdom (1 John 1:2), and be confident that our faith is a faith truly from God.