The testing of your faith produces perseverance
James 1:3 - James asks us to consider facing troubles with a joyful attitude, as making it through serves to demonstrate that God’s loving concern for us is unbounded.
“because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
James 1:3 NIV
The last month has become an impromptu study of the Epistle of James, since God has pointed us to this letter four times! Today’s verse is part of a longer paragraph, so let’s look at James 1:2-4 to get some context:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Notice that James pointedly says “whenever you face trials of many kinds”. He is being realistic — everyone goes through trials and temptations in their lives. If you’ve lived a truly blessed life and have never been in a situation that has tested your faith (like the tornado devastation seen in the image above), understand that you will eventually find yourself in such a circumstance. James is telling his Christian brothers and sisters to not fear that time, but to face it with joy.
Enduring Word had this to say about our verse for today:
Faith is tested through trials, not produced by trials. Trials reveal what faith we do have; not because God doesn’t know how much faith we have, but so that our faith will be evident to ourselves and to those around us.
Why is our faith tested? Isn’t it important enough just to have faith? This testing — which serves to prove to us whether we truly believe in the saving grace of Jesus Christ — is God’s way of reassuring us that we are faithful and the enemy’s way of trying to see if our faith is wavering. Charles H. Spurgeon said,
“Faith is as vital to salvation as the heart is vital to the body: hence the javelins of the enemy are mainly aimed at this essential grace.”
The earlier quote from Enduring Word pointed out that faith is “not produced by trials.” So what is the source of faith? Faith grows in us as we hear the Word of God, as we begin to understand the Word, and as we finally trust in the Word as the source of all wisdom and truth.
Life’s trials and tribulations are not the source of faith. When believers go through difficulties with faith, James explains that doing so “produces perseverance”. I know from personal experience that times of trial don’t always result in perseverance and patience; more often than not, they can make us discouraged and angry.
That’s why James tells us earlier to consider facing difficulties as “pure joy”, because of the end result once those troubles are in the past. He’s not asking believers to enjoy times of difficulty, or saying that we should be happy and joyful during those trials. James asks us to consider facing troubles with a joyful attitude, as making it through serves to demonstrate that God’s loving concern for us is unbounded.
I’ll close this devotional with two more quotes from the Prince of Preachers, Charles H. Spurgeon:
“The natural tendency of trouble is not to sanctify, but to induce sin. A man is very apt to become unbelieving under affliction: that is a sin. He is apt to murmur against God under it: that is a sin. He is apt to put forth his hand to some ill way of escaping from his difficulty: and that would be sin. Hence we are taught to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation; because trial has in itself a measure of temptation’; and if it were not neutralized by abundant grace it would bear us towards sin.”
“I have looked back to times of trial with a kind of longing, not to have them return, but to feel the strength of God as I have felt it then, to feel the power of faith, as I have felt it then, to hang upon God’s powerful arm as I hung upon it then, and to see God at work as I saw him then.”1
AMEN!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I know that I will endure many difficulties in my life. I pray that during those times I will stand on my faith to persevere through trials, knowing that I will pass through to better times. AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
Commentary quotations from Enduring Word are used with the written permission of the author and reproduced here in their original format. © 1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon “The New Park Street Pulpit” Volumes 1-6 and “The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit” Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)