While Remaining Steadfast Under Trial

[Christsfreeservant]

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4 ESV)​

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“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12 ESV)​

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are not promised a life of ease and comfort. In fact, we are promised the opposite of that. We are promised that we will suffer and be hated and persecuted and betrayed and denied and that we’ll be unwanted, cast aside, forsaken and forgotten. And we are promised that friends and family and “church people” will turn against us and want nothing to do with us because we are following Jesus Christ with our lives, and because we are obeying the Lord, and because we are speaking the truth.

Now this is not teaching that our lives will be absolutely miserable and that we will go around moaning and groaning all the time. Just the opposite! We are taught that we will have joy, and that we will express joy, despite our circumstances, and despite how others treat us. We will have joy in our salvation from our slavery to sin, and from being in fellowship with Jesus Christ, and from being in fellowship with other believers who are also in genuine fellowship with Jesus Christ (this is not always the case).

For we can be going through all sorts of trials and tribulations and heartaches and persecutions and still have the joy of the Lord. For our joy should be in Jesus despite our circumstances. For we can accept what we cannot change, and what we cannot control, believing that God is allowing these things to take place in our lives for a reason. Yet, we are not to accept (tolerate, pacify) sin in our own lives or in the lives of others who profess faith in Jesus, but we cannot control what others do, but only what we do.

In the last devotion, the Lord had me write on the subject of difficult circumstances and not understanding why things happen to us the way that we do, and not understanding why God does what he does, the way that he does, and why he allows what he allows in our lives. And this one was also about misunderstanding how God works because of misimpressions that we were given of him and how he works, perhaps from childhood, and how those misconceptions can color how we see and respond to God today.

So, it is helpful to us if we are students of the Scriptures who study them in context, who read them in context so that we can see “the big picture.” For there we get a correct biblical understanding of the divine character and will of God and of why he does what he does, and of why he allows what he allows, and with regard to what purpose those things serve in our lives in making us into the people of God who he wants us to be. For he allows us to go through tough times to make us into the people he wants us to be.

So, we can have joy, even through our tears, when we can grasp that, and when we can accept that God allows evil people to do evil to us to make us strong and determined to follow him with our lives and to not give up at the first sign of opposition. It is kind of like “on the job training,” or like an athlete training for a major competition. It can be painful getting ourselves ready for that competition, and it involves sacrifice and determination and perseverance, and that is why hardships are necessary in our lives.

If life is too soft, if it is too easy for us, if it does not challenge us and oppose us and work against us so that we learn resistance and so that we gain strength and determination, then we will never make it when the going gets rougher, which it is, and which it will continue to get rougher as the days progress. We won’t have the stamina and the perseverance to stand the hard tests if we are not put to the test and forced to stand or else to fail. So suffering and persecutions are for our good.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

And what is the end result if we respond appropriately to our trials and if we do not let them defeat us, but we let them strengthen us and improve us in character? Well, if we are talking here about the genuine believer and follower of Jesus Christ, who is in the process of sanctification, and of being made holy, and of denying self and dying daily to sin, and of walking in obedience to our Lord, in practice, the end result is salvation from sin and eternal life with God, which God promised to those who love him.

And who are those who “agape” love him, i.e. who are those loving him? We are those who prefer what God prefers, and what he prefers is all that is holy, righteous, upright, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to him and to his commands. So if we are those who are loving him, we are those who are preferring to live through Christ, embracing God’s will, choosing his choices, and obeying them through his power and strength. And we are those loving other humans with this same kind of agape love.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Believe Him

An Original Work / July 15, 2013

My heart cries: Lord, won’t You hear me
Seeking You for the answers
To my heartache and questions
I have concerning my life?
Speak, Lord, to me right now.

“Oh, dear one, why don’t you trust Me
With your life’s circumstances?
Give your all on the altar
In submission of your will
To My purpose for you.

“Surrender your life completely
To your Lord and your Savior.
He has all things planned for you
For His glory and honor.
He’ll work all things for good.

“Believe Him. He will fulfill all
Of His promises to you
For your life and your future.
Trust Him. Rest in His love.
He’ll give you peace from above.”