Enduring Trials and Temptations
If you just read the start of this passage in the context of this week's theme ("What does a healthy church look like?"), you might think it would continue very differently -- "Consider it pure joy when... things go your way; when your church is growing; when there's plenty of money in the bank; when the Children's Church is packed; when there are too many volunteers and when congregants hang on your every word." Aren't these the things we think we should see in a healthy church?Yet, what are we confronted with? Church membership that is stagnant or declining; stretched budgets where expenses exceed income; the Children's Church is dwindling or non-existent; there just don't seem to be enough people to keep the doors open and the lights on, never mind launching new initiatives and we wonder if anyone is really listening when we speak.
Fortunately, James gives us some hope, because he says that we should consider it joy when we face trials of many kinds because those trials actually test our faith. We might wonder why God would allow our faith to be tested, but, if you think about faith more as a muscle to be worked than as a quantity to be collected, then it makes sense. Muscles need to be stretched and stressed in order to grow and develop. If they are not used in this way, they atrophy and eventually stop working altogether. God wants our faith to grow strong, so what God does is to allow our faith to be stretched and stressed so that it grows strong.
The Greek word here is peirasmos which means an experiment, an attempt, a trial, a proving, and specifically, the trial of human faithfulness, integrity, virtue, constancy through adversity, affliction, trouble sent by God and serving to test or prove one's character, faith, holiness. This testing produces perseverance, a never-give-up attitude that is required of all those who follow Christ. Perseverance leads us to maturity and complete wisdom. It's interesting to note that when James instructs us to ask for wisdom, it's one of the few times in Scripture where we are told that if we ask for it, God will give it to us.
So the next time you face a tough situation, pray for wisdom and don't be surprised when God answers your prayer. As you prepare to bring God's Word to your congregation, teach in Sunday School, serve tea or welcome people at the door this Sunday remember that as you do what God has called you to do, God will be at work among you, doing the things only God can do: healing the sick, cleansing those who are covered in sin, setting prisoners free, bringing sight to the blind, helping the deaf to hear and the lame to walk.
| Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. (James1:2-8) |
[Thanks to our Moderator, Peter Langerman, who has helped out where one of our ministers was indisposed and unable to write for today.]
