James 1:2-4 states "consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
Now this is a far cry from the feeling of those whose faith is being tested. And what I mean by that is this; when a Christian feels as if their faith is being tested and strained, at least in my experience, they feel as if they are extremely lacking. I lack comfort; I lack peace; I lack joy; and I lack a desire to press on; I lack in being who I want to be. But au contraire says James. This testing, this straining, this trial you are facing will mature your faith and develop positive things in your spiritual walk and make you . . . wait for it . . . a little longer . . . not lacking ANYTHING. James never looks upon those going through the trial with a sneer or look of contempt either. His passage does not state that the trials themselves are fun to go through. Rather, he looks to the results of these trials. The results of not lacking anything. When we go through these trials and tests of our faith, we learn how to battle through them (develop perseverance) and we learn because, ultimately, we learn so much more in the hard times than in those good times. These results are what make the suffering worth it; and not just worth it, but joyful.
Romans 5:3-5 states "Not only so [rejoicing in the hope of Christ a.k.a. "good"] but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, whom he has given us."
So James tells us that perseverance is formed in us through our faith trials. But what does having this perseverance mean? Well, Paul is nice enough to tell us. This perseverance produces character (see blog entry "My Grandpa Was Awesome" for more on character) and this character produces hope. Now hope is a funny word, because we can put our hope in many things ("for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him" - II Peter 2:19). But Paul, in the last clause of verse 2, says "and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Our hope is in God, the one whose compassions never fail (Lam. 3:22), whose faithfulness is great (Lam. 3:23), and who can do more then we can ever ask or even imagine (Eph. 3:20). The one who will take delight in us (Zeph. 3:17), the one who has a good, pleasing, and perfect will for our lives and who has plans for us to prosper, plans for a hope and a future and not to harm us (Rom. 12:2 and Jer. 29:11). We will have hope in a God who doesn't lie or change his mind (Numbers 23:19). We have hope in a God who, in his very essence, is love (I John 4:8).
So there you have it. These trials, these tests and tribulations, are producing something very good, something that I am thankful for and cannot wait to see the fruits of. I have learned so much about God and what it means to be a true Christian. God is working through me in this trial of my faith and he is using it for something good. He is working in me so that I will lack nothing. He is refining me to be like gold :)
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