You probably remember your school days with the dreaded “pop quiz.” It felt unfair to have a teacher give no warning before announcing a test that could impact your grade. If the teacher had said, “Do this because there will be a test…” Well then we’d have shown up prepared. But to spring a test on us felt unfair!
But looking back–was it really?
Probably our teachers had previously said, “Read chapter three tonight for homework.” or “These vocabulary terms are gonna be important to remember.” Or, “Don’t forget to diagram the DNA molecule tonight in your workbook.”
They weren’t ambushing us. They were seeing if we were listening. Seeing if we were fully committed.
How does God check if we’re fully committed to Him? What’s the big thing He looks for to see if our hearts are His?
Is it faithful Bible reading? Regular church attendance? Saying your prayers?
There is one area of our life where He tests where our true loyalties lie. He says if you look at this single thing, you’ll know where a person’s heart is. Do you know what that is?
Our money.
The Lord Jesus said it this way in the Sermon on the Mount: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).
Money isn’t the whole of spiritual faithfulness — but it is the clearest indicator of it. It reveals what we trust. What we love. What we fear losing.
In school, the test revealed how committed we were to the class. In faith, our giving shows how committed we are to God.
Interestingly, the Bible warns us over and over about putting God to the test. But in one place — and only one place — God flips the script.
In the final book of the Old Testament the LORD says: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need” (Malachi 3:10).
Everywhere else in Scripture, we are told not to test God. Here, He invites it.
This is not God nervously waiting to see if we pass. This is God saying: You obey. You trust Me with what feels most treasured to you. And then watch Me take the test.
Money is the only area where God says, “Do it My way — and see if I don’t pass with flying colors.”
The test is not whether God will be faithful. The test is whether we will trust Him enough to obey. And when we do — He proves Himself. Not with instant wealth. Not with a prosperity formula. But with provision, sufficiency, and the unmistakable evidence that heaven backs obedience.
There will be a test.
But in this one area, the most surprising part of the story is this: If we trust Him with our treasure,
God says, “Now watch and let Me show you what I can do.”