“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” - James 1:2-4 (NASB)
Our selected verse today is one that we might acknowledge as a familiar verse but would rather not sometimes. Trials in our lives can be petty or pretty severe. Often we look for a way of avoiding having to put up with the testing a trial brings to us. How can we consider them to be times of “all joy in our life” when they bring us to tears or frustration? We might struggle with understanding this command to do so. Yet, the truth of the promises in these verses give us reason to hope and to obey. These trials have one purpose, to test our faith and to strengthen our endurance. ‘Steadfastness’ and ‘perseverance’ are also used in this verse. It is part of the process that God uses to make us 'perfect' – a word when used this way does not mean without fault but means finished, mature, brought to its end. When we can endure trials and testing joyfully, we have come to understand that in Christ, we are truly lacking in nothing.
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