Good morning. It is the Christmas shopping season. I know, some of you are more organized and have your gifts well considered, purchased, wrapped, and perhaps even mailed. And then there is the rest of us. For some of us any Christmas shopping accomplished before 12/23 is a win.
Shopping has its costs. It takes thought, time, and usually some money. We are willing to pay those costs because the outcome is worthy. We love to see those we care about joyful and if our gifts can contribute to their joy, the cost is worth it.
For our thought today I would like to consider a gift we can give to ourselves. Yes, there is cost, but the resulting gift is worth it.
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. James 1:2-4
First of all, let’s consider the cost. We read that we will “face trials of many kinds”. Those could represent some pretty high costs. Personal trials, relationship trials, the expected and unexpected trials of life and faith. But we hang in there and we pay the price of such trials, because we know that the outcome is worth it.
We are told in this passage that the first outcome of faithfully facing trials is that of gaining perseverance. Some translations use the word endurance. The Greek word is ὑπομονὴν (hypomonēn), which is more fully translated as “extreme patience to endure”.
This “extreme patience to endure” is a result of growing through trials, but it is not the gift that is promised. The gift that is granted through “extreme patience to endure” is Christian maturity, completion in faith, and having our spiritual needs fully met. Wow, that is quite a gift!
There will be trials today, and tomorrow, and every day until Jesus calls us to Himself. But perhaps we should consider those trials as the cost required to receive the gift that is promised. When we face such trials with the right heart and spirit we will grow up in Christ. We will mature into spiritual completion. We will increasingly find ourselves spiritually fit and well supplied. The cost is a reality, but the gift is well worth it! Praise God for His gifts!
Vern