James, chapter one is about going through tough times. He starts out with some advice that sounds pretty wacky: "Consider it pure job, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds."
Seriously?! When EVER do we do this?! This is an oxymoronic request if I've ever seen one. There is nothing joyous about tough times. So, you’re sick. “Yay! I’m sick!” Uh. No. No “Yay.” You’ve been slammed with financial trouble and you’re supposed to rejoice about it. Right. “While you’re at it, please poke me in the eye and chop off a finger, please. I can’t get enough of this ‘joy.’”
I don’t think this is what James is after ... as though we are to be unrealistically optimistic or Disneyland giddy about our dire circumstances. I think Eugene Peterson captures it well when he translates it, “Consider it a sheer gift...” No trial or time of testing is wasted time for us. Besides surviving and getting through it -- which is usually our only focus, naturally, I think James wants us to see at the front end the real value of our difficulties. There is a dimension we can live in that takes some focus in order to gain value. Testing your faith develops something good: maturity and completeness, or as The Message puts it, “mature and well developed, not deficient in any way.”
Really, having a mature outlook and perspective is reward enough. I find that when my outlook is mature, I don’t freak out as much when the next big thing hits. (Watch me make a liar out of myself next time :) ) God has gotten me through this before, we’ve been here before, we can handle this one, too. Yes, it’s a bit more serious this time -- maybe a lot more -- but we can do this thing. You see, hard times - smack downs - aren’t an indication that God is on holiday. And, that’s the real crux of the issue. We are tempted to think that God has abandoned us -- that’s the “testing of our faith.” Faith says God told me he wouldn’t abandon me -- Jesus said as much. Faith says God does care, God is here, he’s able and willing to help me work through this and come out stronger and more mature.
There’s a very good reason beyond ourselves that maturity is good. Maturity helps others - the less mature than you, the younger than you, the weaker than you. Mature means you are out ahead of someone. As you learn the navigation issues through these particular waters of testing, you will chart a course for someone else, someone right behind you, or someone in the future who will face a similar circumstance. (I think that part is exciting.) This isn’t a matter of superiority as though you will now be able to gloat or best someone, although that seems a common human tendency.
Speaking of, I’ve known people to do this. If they’ve ever had any situation similar they’re “all over it.” Instead of offering a compassionate, steady hand, they’re quick in one of two ways. One is the you-think-you’ve-got-it-bad syndrome. Or, it’s “This is what you SHOULD do. I’ve been there. I KNOW. Or, they’re good at both. Maturity comes along side rather than dispensing auto responses. Maturity offers to walk along side, if only for a season. It says, God loves you, you’re gonna get through this. How can I help? What do you need that I can offer? … and it may not be advice.
To me, the whole value of this maturity-through-trial thing is that we come out better lovers of people. We are loved through a hard time, by God and others, and it is natural that we now know how to love others better.
So, James says, whenever you face trials of many kinds (or one kind), see the gift in them. Hard to do. Very hard to do, especially right in the middle of them. But, the benefit is worth the effort.
There’s one other element here that is part of the “formula.” Now, I don’t like formulas for Christian living. I don’t think they work. People write "how to" books on the Christian life -- I have shelves full of them -- and they don’t work, as a friend of mine says, because if they did people wouldn’t keep writing them. (Look for my big sale on Amazon.) Living in God’s love isn’t about formulas, it is about relationship. It's about living loved by God and loving others -- relationship. That said, what James lays out for us does fall out as an equation of sorts. The testing of your faith develops perseverance. When perseverance is “finished” we find that we are more mature, more complete, that we have everything we need to get us through this thing, to come out on top, to thrive. Testing + perseverance = maturity and completeness. T + P = MC.
It’s also funny how he says this. The testing of our faith develops perseverance and “perseverance must finish its work.” It’s as though perseverance is something outside of us, a thing that is at work. It’s a very passive way to say this. You might expect to hear something more like, “You must persevere if you want to get through this. Don’t give up or...” (or else). That’s not the language. Perseverance is doing something TO us. It’s working to mature us. He almost personifies it. What I’m discovering is that as I hang in there with God, acknowledging he is right in there with me, that he will get things worked out as soon as they need to be. This “trial of faith” is doing a number on me. It’s good number though. It’s “a perfect 10.” I do what I know to do, use the resources at my disposal, and … wait. I know that I am loved by a Father who loves me more than anyone ever has or ever will. As I grow in the realization of his affection and care for me, trusting him is natural. Trust is the moment by moment outcome of my always-increasing confidence in his affection for me.
He does this work. I slip my hand in his. He walks me out of the messes, most them of my own doing. Through every painful trial, perseverance must finish its work. I learn to sit still while perseverance works on me, while God works on me and in me. Really, it’s a matter of rest, of resting. And, I didn't say doing nothing. Rest doesn't necessarily mean inaction. It may, but it may also mean continuing to do what I am doing. As I rest in the reality of his love, the more I find that I am trusting him and not my own agenda for my life. That’s the difference between me grunting in perseverance and allowing perseverance to do its work. I’m really allowing God to do his work. Didn't Jesus say, “Come to me and I will give you rest"? He's saying, Your work alongside me will be restful.” If I don’t come to him, I find that I am laboring in my own strength, wallowing in my own agenda. I like how The Message relays Jesus’ words, “What I’m trying to do is get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving.”
You see, this is so much like God. He works best when we are content in him. In fact, the New Testament writer, Paul, says as much when he says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Being like God is to respond to him and life with contentment. If I'm not content, then there is something to learn about his love that I haven't yet learned. He is enough. His love is enough. Resting in this reality is allowing perseverance to finish its work. Jesus grows my trust right through the middle of my mess. He continually frees me from focusing on what I don’t have and turns my attention to him. He is the author of grace and trust. He is sufficient.
The testing of my faith develops perseverance. Perseverance finishes his work, and I grow, and lack nothing I need for life. T + P = MC.
I don’t think this is what James is after ... as though we are to be unrealistically optimistic or Disneyland giddy about our dire circumstances. I think Eugene Peterson captures it well when he translates it, “Consider it a sheer gift...” No trial or time of testing is wasted time for us. Besides surviving and getting through it -- which is usually our only focus, naturally, I think James wants us to see at the front end the real value of our difficulties. There is a dimension we can live in that takes some focus in order to gain value. Testing your faith develops something good: maturity and completeness, or as The Message puts it, “mature and well developed, not deficient in any way.”
Really, having a mature outlook and perspective is reward enough. I find that when my outlook is mature, I don’t freak out as much when the next big thing hits. (Watch me make a liar out of myself next time :) ) God has gotten me through this before, we’ve been here before, we can handle this one, too. Yes, it’s a bit more serious this time -- maybe a lot more -- but we can do this thing. You see, hard times - smack downs - aren’t an indication that God is on holiday. And, that’s the real crux of the issue. We are tempted to think that God has abandoned us -- that’s the “testing of our faith.” Faith says God told me he wouldn’t abandon me -- Jesus said as much. Faith says God does care, God is here, he’s able and willing to help me work through this and come out stronger and more mature.
There’s a very good reason beyond ourselves that maturity is good. Maturity helps others - the less mature than you, the younger than you, the weaker than you. Mature means you are out ahead of someone. As you learn the navigation issues through these particular waters of testing, you will chart a course for someone else, someone right behind you, or someone in the future who will face a similar circumstance. (I think that part is exciting.) This isn’t a matter of superiority as though you will now be able to gloat or best someone, although that seems a common human tendency.
Speaking of, I’ve known people to do this. If they’ve ever had any situation similar they’re “all over it.” Instead of offering a compassionate, steady hand, they’re quick in one of two ways. One is the you-think-you’ve-got-it-bad syndrome. Or, it’s “This is what you SHOULD do. I’ve been there. I KNOW. Or, they’re good at both. Maturity comes along side rather than dispensing auto responses. Maturity offers to walk along side, if only for a season. It says, God loves you, you’re gonna get through this. How can I help? What do you need that I can offer? … and it may not be advice.
To me, the whole value of this maturity-through-trial thing is that we come out better lovers of people. We are loved through a hard time, by God and others, and it is natural that we now know how to love others better.
So, James says, whenever you face trials of many kinds (or one kind), see the gift in them. Hard to do. Very hard to do, especially right in the middle of them. But, the benefit is worth the effort.
There’s one other element here that is part of the “formula.” Now, I don’t like formulas for Christian living. I don’t think they work. People write "how to" books on the Christian life -- I have shelves full of them -- and they don’t work, as a friend of mine says, because if they did people wouldn’t keep writing them. (Look for my big sale on Amazon.) Living in God’s love isn’t about formulas, it is about relationship. It's about living loved by God and loving others -- relationship. That said, what James lays out for us does fall out as an equation of sorts. The testing of your faith develops perseverance. When perseverance is “finished” we find that we are more mature, more complete, that we have everything we need to get us through this thing, to come out on top, to thrive. Testing + perseverance = maturity and completeness. T + P = MC.
It’s also funny how he says this. The testing of our faith develops perseverance and “perseverance must finish its work.” It’s as though perseverance is something outside of us, a thing that is at work. It’s a very passive way to say this. You might expect to hear something more like, “You must persevere if you want to get through this. Don’t give up or...” (or else). That’s not the language. Perseverance is doing something TO us. It’s working to mature us. He almost personifies it. What I’m discovering is that as I hang in there with God, acknowledging he is right in there with me, that he will get things worked out as soon as they need to be. This “trial of faith” is doing a number on me. It’s good number though. It’s “a perfect 10.” I do what I know to do, use the resources at my disposal, and … wait. I know that I am loved by a Father who loves me more than anyone ever has or ever will. As I grow in the realization of his affection and care for me, trusting him is natural. Trust is the moment by moment outcome of my always-increasing confidence in his affection for me.
He does this work. I slip my hand in his. He walks me out of the messes, most them of my own doing. Through every painful trial, perseverance must finish its work. I learn to sit still while perseverance works on me, while God works on me and in me. Really, it’s a matter of rest, of resting. And, I didn't say doing nothing. Rest doesn't necessarily mean inaction. It may, but it may also mean continuing to do what I am doing. As I rest in the reality of his love, the more I find that I am trusting him and not my own agenda for my life. That’s the difference between me grunting in perseverance and allowing perseverance to do its work. I’m really allowing God to do his work. Didn't Jesus say, “Come to me and I will give you rest"? He's saying, Your work alongside me will be restful.” If I don’t come to him, I find that I am laboring in my own strength, wallowing in my own agenda. I like how The Message relays Jesus’ words, “What I’m trying to do is get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God’s giving.”
You see, this is so much like God. He works best when we are content in him. In fact, the New Testament writer, Paul, says as much when he says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Being like God is to respond to him and life with contentment. If I'm not content, then there is something to learn about his love that I haven't yet learned. He is enough. His love is enough. Resting in this reality is allowing perseverance to finish its work. Jesus grows my trust right through the middle of my mess. He continually frees me from focusing on what I don’t have and turns my attention to him. He is the author of grace and trust. He is sufficient.
The testing of my faith develops perseverance. Perseverance finishes his work, and I grow, and lack nothing I need for life. T + P = MC.
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