James: Faith Becomes Real

Trials develop perfection and patience

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” James 1:2-4
Imagine receiving a letter or email which began “Dear friend; Look out there are dangers all around you. Be sure to use these dangers to your benefit.” How would you react to such a message?
James begins his letter with an abrupt discussion about faith. Our endurance matures when faith is tested. As endurance continues to grow, we become what James calls “perfect and complete.” (v. 4) Perfect, in this context, does not mean flawless but mature or developed. Even as mature Christians, we continue to grow in God as we learn more about His word and how it affects our lives.
King David is an example of a perfect follower of Christ. In Acts 13:22, Paul refers to King David as a man after God’s own heart and that David would do anything that God wants him to do. However, David was not a sinless man. In 2 Samuel 11, David has an affair with Bathsheba and has her husband killed in battle so he can marry her. As punishment, God causes their firstborn to die only a week after its birth. (v. 18) After David repents, Bathsheba again becomes pregnant and gives birth to Solomon. As time progresses, David’s line, and humanity are redeemed by the birth of Christ.
Testing and endurance are the keys to perfection, as David’s story displays. As we begin our walk, God tests us to see what we have learned and where we need to tutoring. For those raised in a faithful household, He would not need to begin with such a basic concept as believing who He is. Other believers, however, need a more basic understanding of God which then develops and grows along with their faith.
One difficulty humans face in trials is emotion. Unlike other creatures, we not only have an understanding of the world but also an emotional attachment to it. We develop affections for people, animals and even certain events in our lives. However, we also develop dislike or sheer hatred for other things. As Christians, we learn to focus on God when we face trials and not react to them emotionally.
Many aspects of our world just exist, without emotional care for their affects on us. Thunderstorms occur daily and wreck havoc on our lives but do not care what happens to us and our livelihoods. As we trust these events and our lives as a whole, to God our characters become stronger and our focus shifts to God. Through various struggles and losses, we become complete by gaining new experiences. We are then able to help others going through the same experiences and complete God’s purpose when we fellowship with one another through our pain and loss.
We become perfect and complete when we recognize God’s voice and obey Him without question. Obedience then becomes a cycle of its own as God continues His work in us until He returns. Then will we become what are viewed as perfect, flawless and unpolluted by the world.

What area(s) do you sense God currently testing you? How can you respond to this testing?