“[Trials and Temptations] Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.”- James 1:2-3
So, of course, my first thoughts are, "Oh man, God, please, not today...trials of many kinds..." to which He gently reminded me that life - every day - is full of trials, and if today ends up seeming like it has extra, it is His will for my good. Then, He directed me to the second part of the verse, which I thought was cool:
"because you know that the testing of your faith..."
You see, whenever I read this verse, I think about how trials develop perseverance--how storms make us more steady, how mountains make us stronger, how valleys make us braver. But today, the part of faith was the part that struck me. Trials test our faith. Do we have faith in God? If we do, then we will trust Him and can be in His peace. If we worry (as if we have any control over the circumstances), then we are not trusting Him and our faith is weak. Trials test our faith; they gauge our faith.
I was so excited that I decided to blog about it and share my "little" revalation with you all. But when my browser hit my home page, I saw something else: the K-LOVE verse of the day (which is my home page). It said:
"So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless." James 2:17 NLT
Haha, WOW.
Isn't that neat? God knew what I'd just read and learned, knew that I was going to blog, and He put that verse on the K-LOVE site...He knows everything :)
Trials test our faith. But it isn't enough to just "make it through" the trial while trusting in God and reminding yourself that you're getting stronger. Though the first verse emphasized our attitude in trials, our inward attitude is just the first step. From these verses, it appears that God wants us to make the most of every moment, even the difficult ones. He doesn't want us to just survive; He doesn't want us to just live; He wants us to live lives for Him, lives producing good deeds and good fruit. He wants us to live a productive life.
For myself, today's challenge is to not only survive every moment. It's not even to live every moment thinking about God. It's to actively look for and pursue His will, actively seeking to make a difference in others' lives.Here's the point I want you to think about. I'll even put it in big bold type:
Faith is not just an emotion or a thought. Faith is letting God work His will through you; faith is following God whole-heartedly.
Will you join me in pursing this challenge?
DISCLAIMER: Of course, God's words aren't mine, so I could be a little or completely wrong. I'm just telling you what I've learned and believe; please investigate for yourself and decide if you believe I am correct (God doesn't want us to be gullible; like the Bereans, He wants us to double-check doctrines and ideas against the words of the Bible before we accept them as His ideas. I believe He wants us to do this partly so that we don't follow false teachings). These words should not be considered words of God or extra-Biblical revelation, as I am simply trying to explain what has already been written in the Bible.
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