Apologies for the hiatus.
James 1:1-4
1 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Many of my posts in the old days used to be about being an authentic Christian. Too much, I would say, so I tried to change by drumbeat. However, the book of James forces us to examine what it means to really have faith.
These first four verses must be at the forefront of our mind if we are to fully understand what James is writing about in the rest of the book. We face trials and testing of our faith to produce endurance and we are to let endurance to get us to perfection (holiness) and completion. Does this not sound like sports training, musical training, educational training, vocational training, etc. There is not a single world-renown talent that stood the test of time on pure talent. Yes there are the instant sensations of Susan Boyle and William Hung, but to stand the test of time testing, stretching of one’s range and complexity is needed to truly be productive in any craft. The same is true for our walk with Christ. Sure, we can be a “Christian” with the fire insurance, the same as a lawyer could have passed the bar exam. Even though the lawyer passed the exam and is legal to practice law, resting on those laurels alone will not bring in business and will lead a dismal life in the legal profession and will likely leave the profession for greener pastures. If we simply count on some decision we made twenty years ago, are we saved? We may be Christians and profess faith, but do we really have faith? A lawyer seeks to practice law and will do what is necessary to gain clients. A musician seeks to perform and will do what is necessary to go from being known as musically talented to a talented musician. We are called to be disciples. A disciple is someone who is becoming like their master. This is impossible to do doing nothing. Being a Cub fan doesn’t put you on the mound with the bases loaded with two out in the ninth inning up 4-2. Many Christians are merely Christ fans. Many “Christians” think what the Bible has to say is good, right, and correct, and is the path to heaven, but don’t actually do anything it says. Election season is coming up and you may find a candidate you may agree with, may even donate to, but until you are willing to work for their campaign and be a part of their team, do you really believe in that candidate?
All this said, faith is to bring us, through endurance, to holiness, which is what God wants and has commanded us to be. Let us not fool ourselves any longer that God expects or deserves any less.
Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)
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