“Consider it pure joy, my
brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces
perseverance. Let perseverance
finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1: 2-4
Being a
Christian isn’t easy, even God will attest to that. Every day we find ourselves in various trials
and difficult situations. The word used
here is peirasmos which is not a temptation
to sin, but rather a testing that is directed towards an end. The
goal is to emerge better, stronger, and purer from the testing.
It’s clear
that God’s will for us is to have patience and perseverance, so much so that He
gives us countless “opportunities” to develop it in our lives. Big ones.
Small ones. Major once in a
lifetime ones. Everything from life
altering events to minor everyday annoyances.
Each an opportunity to develop
and display the fruit of the Holy Spirit…or not.
James
teaches that when endurance, steadfastness, and patience are fully developed in
our lives we too will be fully
developed, lacking nothing. The
devil can’t control us when we are mature, patient, persevering Christians.
James also
teaches that we should be joyful about such trials, the AMP says to be wholly
joyful. Obviously that’s a tough thing
to do unless we have the right perspective - that mind of Christ that is also wholly assured that the trial will
prove, exercise and strengthen our faith and produce good results.
Often
times we lose our patience and then make the excuse “I’m just not a patient
person.” As if patience is an inherent
characteristic that you either have or you don’t. How
many other character flaws do we accept as a given, unchangeable part of our nature blinded to the fact that
God expects more from us and gives us
the power to change?
I almost
think it’s easier to patiently endure the major tests in life. Not only do we recognize them for what they
are, but we also bear down and put forth all our effort. What
about those “pop quizzes” that occur every day? The screaming baby, the slow driver, the misplaced
or messed up paperwork, the lady counting out exact change, the unhelpful help
desk operator…
When it’s
just a minor annoyance or inconvenience we try to fix or control it, figure out
why, vent our frustrations or assign blame.
While trying to fix a problem is a good thing, we mustn’t let the
problem steal our joy, extinguish our
patience, or tarnish the fruit that we’re developing and displaying to
others. And we mustn’t overlook it as a divinely assigned test from God.
Christians
shouldn’t be impatient, grumpy, lashing out people. Sure if we’re in a bad mood we can forgive
and extend grace, we know God does. But unbelievers don’t know grace, they just see
impatient, grumpy so-called Christians.
And when we behave in a manner unworthy of Christ, they see hypocrites.
The Lord expects joyful,
enduring patience from His children, and He gives us the Holy
Spirit to help us develop it so that we lack nothing. Tests
and pop quizzes are simply means to that end and should bring us pure joy,
because when we’re lacking nothing Satan
can’t gain a foothold.
Lord, please reveal to me times
when I’ve been impatient, when I’ve let trials weaken my resolve and steal my
joy, when I’ve lashed out or withdrawn and disengaged instead of patiently,
joyfully persevering. Lord, I want to be
complete in you, lacking nothing. Amen.
