Skip to main content
My brothers and sisters, think of the various tests you encounter as occasions for joy. 
After all, you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Let this endurance complete its work so that you may be fully mature, complete, and lacking in nothing. 
James 1:2-4 CEB
Some translations of the Bible use words like "trials of many kinds", but the word James uses is "peirasmos" which means "an experiment, a trial, temptation", and it's usage is 
(a) trial, probation, testing, being tried, 
(b) temptation, 
(c) calamity, affliction.
And his context is that it's like going to the gym, running uphill, pushing testing, challenging our faith that strengthens it is what this is all about. 
This is not some general instruction to absorb any pain, hurt, abuse, suffering or loss with some kind of "joy". 
In a faith sense it's like saying I can usually run 5km, but today I need to run 6km. 
James doesn't want us to avoid the faith challenges that grow our faith muscles. 
This might be wrestling with a difficult passage or idea about God. 
It might be wondering how to humbly restore a damaged relationship.
It might be to serve others in some way, and not be recognized or thanked.
There's a joy in the discovery and the exhaustion of running the 6th km.
#James
#itsaheartthing 
#Godsgym

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,  for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16 NLT OK so this is an English translation of a letter Paul wrote to a church 2,000 years ago, but does it feel like Paul is wrestling with words and ideas to try and capture all of who Jesus is, of who God is, of how does it work that the walking around Jesus was also there before the beginning of the beginning of everything we can see and touch and know. Not only that but Jesus was somehow the agent of everything that has been made in the physical, social, and spiritual.  Jesus is at the centre of it all.  Walking around Jesus. Cooking fish for breakfast Jesus. Heart aching as he ...
Post a Comment
Read more
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him.  "Listen," he said,  "we're going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law.  They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked,  flogged with a whip,  and crucified.  But on the third day he will be raised from the dead." Matthew 20:17-20 NLT Jesus wanted his team, those closest to him, to know what was going to happen next.  It seems he wanted them to be prepared.  To be able to hold the hope of what's at the end as they go through the watching him be betrayed, sentenced, mocked, abused, and killed.  I wonder if Jesus needed to tell them, to let those he knew best what was ahead because he needed them with him. Jesus wanted community in the most difficult of times. It's no wonder that we do too.  We're in...
Post a Comment
Read more
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. James 1:23-24 NASB For many people this is a time of year for a bit of introspection, thinking about the year that was, and what's ahead. James is encouraging us to live out God's Word. Whereever we find ourselves, whatever our circumstances. Its like looking at yourself. You don't forget who you are. The greek word here is "eimi" I am. We don't forget who we are. I am who I am in everything I do. And that's how James wants us to live out God's Word. It's not "hey just don't forget to live out what you've heard", the living out is inseparable from the hearing. #james #james1 #Godsgym #theWordjustliveit
Post a Comment
Read more