Wed, Jun 17, 2009
Okay, I don't know what I'm doing!
Intense! This, I think, best sums up this passage. Much like going twelve rounds in a prize fight, James holds nothing back and begins his message with a jab, jab, right uppercut. As I marinate for a moment in the first few verses of this first chapter, here is where my mind takes me...
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."
I'm sure for many of us these words hit all-to-close-to-home; they do for me at least. I know I struggle to look at and really believe the struggles of my life are gifts. I fight so hard against letting the difficult situations of life run their course. I say I want to be mature and refined, but shy away from the pain and discomfort that ultimately comes with the refining. My guess is, for many of us you can agree with me; we're in the same boat so to speak.
No doubt this is a difficult thing to do well, if really at all. Thankfully however, God in his infinite grace provides us help. Notice what James says in verse 5, "If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help."
"Okay, I don't know what I'm doing!" Okay, we don't know what we're doing...HELP!!!"
That ought to be our prayer as we move through life, encountering the inevitable difficulties along the way. Let's forgo our pride and cloth ourselves in the covering of our Father God, and lets allow Him the space enough to refine us as He best sees fit. And let's begin living this way today.
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."
I'm sure for many of us these words hit all-to-close-to-home; they do for me at least. I know I struggle to look at and really believe the struggles of my life are gifts. I fight so hard against letting the difficult situations of life run their course. I say I want to be mature and refined, but shy away from the pain and discomfort that ultimately comes with the refining. My guess is, for many of us you can agree with me; we're in the same boat so to speak.
No doubt this is a difficult thing to do well, if really at all. Thankfully however, God in his infinite grace provides us help. Notice what James says in verse 5, "If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help."
"Okay, I don't know what I'm doing!" Okay, we don't know what we're doing...HELP!!!"
That ought to be our prayer as we move through life, encountering the inevitable difficulties along the way. Let's forgo our pride and cloth ourselves in the covering of our Father God, and lets allow Him the space enough to refine us as He best sees fit. And let's begin living this way today.
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