Staying Power
the testing of your faith develops perseverance/endurance/patience...
and without these/this you are immature and incomplete in your faith (my paraphrase)
How very important is the long view of faith. Sure the young and zealous make an early splash and it is beautiful to see - glorious, but it has a different kind of glory. Paul said the earthly bodies in one kind of glory and the glory of the heavenly bodies is another.
Perhaps it is a sign of my age? Maybe it is the revelation of myself that the years have brought that makes me savor and longingly fond of the glory of the race that has been run for years...and years later is still running.
Here is James, the half brother of Jesus, and he moves from one topic to the next as rapid as my children in the aisle of a toy store. He starts off with asking those under fire to be joyful because these trials of various kinds is essential to the growth and development of their faith. They will need to be run through a few trials and not just to go through them, but to do so patiently and with endurance - knowing that God is working even this heat and instability for the stability of their souls!
I have lived with you Father in both seasons...the calm waters and the rough seas, and now with some years behind me, I do find a strange joy having passed through a few trials. They make You all the more to me! They make me all the less and for that alone - the trial is worth it! There is a fermenting of sorts where with the passing of time and through it all faith gets richer, better, deeper, and sweeter. Some trials are so fantastic that they threaten to shake our very souls from our bodies, but You hold all things, even us...together!
You are the only Rock! You are the only Sure Thing! You are the only One who loves me like You do! You work all things together for the good of those who love you and are called by You!
Thank You God - good and great God - perfect in all of your ways and dealings with me for all of the things that my various trials have taught me. I am more mature and complete because of it!
Created over 2 years ago
