A Closer Look at James 1:5
The following discussion comes from the Trinity Study Center website's (www.trinitystudycenter.com) online Bible studies and resources.
James is writing a pastoral letter to encourage those who are facing trials. He is really speaking to all of us because we are all facing various trials in this broken, sinful world. James wants them to see that all their trials, large and small, are testing their trust in the Triune God.
As we go through trials we are faced with the choice to live as if God is good, active, and present or to act as if He isn't hearing us, caring about us, and able to bring good out of this struggle. James reminds his readers in the first paragraph of his letter that we can trust that our trials will add up to joy because as we count on God through them our confidence in Him is strengthened and God will bring us to completion through them. He will make us truly perfect, able perfectly to receive His life and love for us. We will be filled with His fullness, lacking in nothing.
When we are in the midst of some difficulty, it can be hard to see beyond the immediate circumstances. James encourages his readers to go through their trials looking at the endpoint, where all of one's life is going. God is taking us to the point of being "perfect and complete". Nothing less. This is what these present struggles will add up to as we count on Him to be at work in our lives.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment