James 1:2-4: Faith in Duress (and out of it too)

James 1:2-4 “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (HCSB)

How often do we think about the completeness of our faith? “Completeness?” you ask “Do you mean the totality of our doctrine?” No, not really. What I mean is “What all has your faith been through.” Has your faith been through great joy and great sorrow, mediocre happiness and mediocre complaints, lesser gladness and lesser melancholies. Has our faith grown in the hard times and in the easy times?

Have you ever seen a tree, growing there on the edge of a cliff? The wind blows hard against it and the soil is of little nourishment, but the hardships and the problems that tree faces gives it the beauty and strength we appreciate. For that tree to even sprout and survive the first few years however, there must have been some shelter, some dirt, some shade, some rain. The good times, the easy times allowed that tree the time to build its internal structure that kept it standing in the harsh winds of winters and summers. The tree had to endure through a lot for it to grow to where it was. Our faith is the same way. All the trials we face help prepare us and grow us to be a better and more mature Christian. All the times of plenty allow us the opportunity to put what we learned in the trials to use.

Lets think about the people of Israel in bondage under Pharaoh. If they had not built up their endurance by working all day as slaves in the sun, on their feet the whole time with little nourishing food, how well do you think they would have survived living forty years in the Sinai wilderness on nothing but manna? Sure their clothes and shoes never wore out, but they had it tougher in the Sinai than they did in Egypt! They wanted to go back to Egypt! And then when they had to fight the people in the promised land, they wished that they had died in the wilderness! (Numbers 14:2-3)

So think about the completeness of your faith. Has it endured? Has it learned to endure? What about you? Have you absorbed the lessons you have had to experience or perhaps shrugged them off, not realizing what you can learn from them? How have you been changed by your life experiences so far? Have you even noticed yourself changing?  The wholeness of our lives, the very fabric of our being is formed by the very problems we complain about. Instead of complaining lets learn to appreciate these tests, these ordeals because God uses them to form us and teach us, increasing our faith and our understanding of Him.

Count it joy, and never be discouraged,
When by trials your life is sorely pressed.
For you know that when your faith is tested,
Your endurance then develops best.
Perseverance must complete its working;
You will need to let it have its way.
When it’s done, you’ll be complete and perfect,
Having all you need to meet each day.