Lord, thank You that all the time we depend upon Your mercy, Your provisions. Lord, without these we are just like a dead dog. We can do nothing, and we can be nothing.
O let us rejoice in the Lord evermore, Though all things around us be trying, Though floods of affliction like sea billows roar, It's better to sing than be sighing. Then rejoice evermore, rejoice evermore, It is better to sing than be sighing: It is better to live then be dying; So let us rejoice evermore.
Knowing that the proving of your faith works out endurance.
Jam. 1:4
And let endurance have its perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
1 Pet. 1:7
So that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Life Supply:
In [James] 1:2 James says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various trials.” Here we see that the first virtue related to practical Christian perfection covered by James is that of enduring trials by faith.
Persecution is a suffering. However, trials are not merely a suffering, for trials are a suffering that serves the purpose of trying or proving us. We may use final examinations in school as an illustration. Students know that final examinations can be a real suffering and trial. But such a trial is actually a help to the students. If there were no final examinations in school, the students would probably be careless concerning their studies. But when they know that a final examination is coming, they concentrate on their studies with much diligence. Therefore, a final examination helps a student learn the necessary material. For this reason, the parents of those who are students should be grateful for the final examinations, knowing that this helps their children to profit from their education.
God uses trials to perfect us. If we see this, we shall thank God for perfecting us through trials. Trials not only help us in the matters of our spiritual education and the experience of life, but also help us with our character and our behavior in our daily living. Before you believed in the Lord, you may have been like a wild lion. But after a period of time of trial, the “lion” has been tamed. I can testify that God has used trials to “tame” me and thereby to perfect me in a practical way in my Christian life.
In 1:2 James even encourages us to “count it all joy” whenever we fall into various trials. The reason we can count it a joy when we fall into trials is that these trials perfect us. Notice that in 1:2 James speaks not only of trials but of “various trials.” This indicates that we should count all trials a joy, not just certain trials. On the one hand, we do not like trials, opposition, and persecution. But on the other hand we should count it all joy when we experience such things because God uses them to perfect us. (Life-Study of James, Msg. 1,)
Questions:
1. How does a believer have practical Christian perfection? (See James 1:3-4 and 4 note 1)
