James 1:2-4 (Phillips)
When all kinds of trials and temptations
crowd into your lives my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome
them as friends! Realize that they come
to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the
process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you
have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence.
The book of James
is not afraid to “get into your face”.
Here’s an example. After one
verse of introduction, he moves right into an area of life that happens to all
of us. He writes about trials and
temptations that he knows are common to every single person who lives life on
this earth. He states somewhat
matter-of-factly that (1) not if trials and temptations occur in your
life, but when they occur; (2) that you will face not one but all
kinds of trials and temptations; and (3) these problems will cause
inconveniences and frustrations and pressures—they will “crowd into”
your life!
Anyone who reads these words for the first
time is incredulous that you are to face your problems as friends, not
intruders; in fact you are to welcome them.
Oh, come on, that’s not right!
Well, from a limited perspective, if God were not around, indeed that
would be a laughable statement. However,
from an eternal perspective, from the viewpoint of God, welcoming trials and
temptations as friends is a profound statement, full of wisdom. Why?
Because trials and temptations produce at least three qualities in you
that have eternal value—
· They test your
faith that reveals your true character
· They produce in you
the quality of endurance (perseverance)
· They produce in you
mature character that gives God the opportunity to mold you into His likeness.
The Greek word for endurance is “hupomone”
that the scholar, William Barclay defined as “having the quality to stand, to
face the storm, to struggle against difficulty and opposition, to make progress
against a trial, rather than merely waiting out the difficulty with passivity”[1]. Furthermore, Barclay commented that these
trials and temptations are not meant to make you fall and fail, but to make you
stronger as a person and to make you soar. So, as best you can, rejoice in these trials
knowing what their real intent is and what they will be producing in you.
Is there anything better in life that
becoming what God wants you to become?
He uses both joyful and sorrowful events of life to perfect (mature)
you. Yet your growth into a mature
person does depend on how you react to your problems. Of course, you will experience fear and anger
and depression. You will have doubts and
you will plead with God to help you.
But, you need to find ways to replace all these normal and nature human
reactions and emotions with the attitude of faithful expectation that the Lord
is in control and is using these trials and temptations for a higher purpose in
your life.
Have you not experienced a serious illness
where after healing had occurred you realized what a joy it is to experience
the ordinary things of life that you could not enjoy while ill? God used your illness to refine you so that
you developed a much more mature perspective about life. You didn’t realize the benefits of your
illness initially, but now you appreciate aspects of life that you never appreciated
before.
To conclude here is a quote from Gil Rugh[2],
pastor of Indian Hills Church in Lincoln, NE:
“God is in the process of making us everything we should be as His
children. He intends for us to be mature, functioning in every part of our
being exactly as He intends. For this to
be accomplished, trials are necessary. They build in us endurance, a
steadfastness under pressure which will develop us as mature men and women in
Christ. What a tragedy that trials often
become the occasion for complaining and discouragement. We become obsessed with getting out from
under the pressure rather than from learning to stand firm and thus become
everything that God intends us to be (Romans 5:2-5; II Thessalonians 1:4 and I
Peter 1:6,7).” Amen.
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