“… 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 1:3-4 (NASB)
Picking up from the passage yesterday (April 3) we know that
testing can bring joy and should bring a joyful attitude because it is for a
purpose. Testing means “proof” or “proving” that our faith is true and strong. The
first of three important words is ‘endurance’ because through tests, we
who believe will learn to withstand tenaciously the pressure of a trial until
God removes it at His appointed time. Two more words in verse 4 stand out with
important lessons. The second word is ‘perfect’ which describes our end result
of testing. It is not a reference to sinlessness or perfection without sin. Perfect means maturity, specifically in our
verse, spiritual maturity. The ongoing testing of our faith should be driving us
who are believers to deeper communion and greater trust in Christ—qualities
that in turn produce a stable, godly, and righteous character. The third word
is ‘complete’. Translated from a
compound Gr. word that literally means “all the portions whole.” God’s purpose
is that through our trials and testing we end up lacking nothing we need. But
we acknowledge this does not speak of material or temporal but spiritually
needs.
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