I was biking home from the grocery store. It was my first
time using my new rig. As I’m biking and everything is going well, I start
thanking God for the season of being able to bike as my primary means of
transportation. I literally post on Snapchat expressing my happiness when I hit
a bump and all my groceries in my rig spill. I briefly sigh because I’m nearly
home and I’m ready to be there. Then I decide its ok because not all of my
groceries spilled and now I can pack it better. I repack and make it to the
corner only to have all my groceries epically spill and it begins to lightly
rain. I smiled and repacked again, nervous only that I had been overzealous in
my initial goal and rethinking the watermelon I bought. Immediately James 1:2-3
came to mind. I smiled and remembered to be grateful and noted the timeliness
of my thoughts, that God had built a new endurance in me of not being outwardly
positive but inwardly placing my fully trust in the Lord and having joy in
that. I smiled at the spiritual battle that was just won within my spirit,
repacked, and finished my bike home. My question to you is what are you
building your endurance in? How are you building it?
Daily we are forcefully bombarded with images of power,
pride, and promiscuity. We are taught that we have to be running to the next
new trend. More and more there are individuals who find a new way of coping
with the issues of the world by simply relaxing, catching the wave of life and
letting it ride out, encouraging apathy. Truly the only thing that can make you
content is understanding your purpose, which can only be understood through
understanding the one who purposed you, and because He is perfect and cannot be
part of any imperfection, that can only be done by understanding His Son. Which
can only be achieved by knowing and trusting in Him. So what are you building
your endurance in? When you get upset what do you do? Do you look for the
nearest opportunity to vent your frustrations? Do you turn up your music? Do
you blast gospel music so that everyone can understand you are trying to be filled? Do you curse a little in your head when you
drop something? How are you building your endurance?
James tells us in James 1:2-3 “Consider
it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the
testing of your faith produces endurance.” To have all joy in
every circumstance, even when some thing sincerely goes wrong. It is against
our human nature to say “Lord, thank you for my stubbed toe.” But that’s
literally what God calls us to do. Everything in our lives are to be a
sacrifice before the Lord, which mean that everything in our life is a
testimony unto the Lord’s goodness. By definition, we are in harms way, because
God will be glorified in both good and bad circumstances, and because of His
covering, we know that no true harm can come to us, but we also know that He is
calling to have joy regardless of our circumstances because nothing is going to
be perfect, because of the sin in the world, until we are apart from the possibility
of encountering any sin within ourselves or from other people in heaven. So it
is necessary, to have the peace that surpasses understanding, for us to have
joy in all circumstances.
If we build our endurance by learning to swear a little, or
grumble a little, we are not building perfect endurance which is what James
talks about in verse 4: “And let endurance
have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in
nothing.” This is only achieved by enduring properly. Its not always
about if we survive but how we survive. Things seem
insurmountable all the time, that is life, everyone you see around you is
surviving. Some survive by lashing out but God calls us to survive by leaning
on Him. It is by leaning on Him that we can laugh and have joy regardless of
our circumstances.
Consider our ultimate model for how we should behave.
Hebrews 12:1-3 teaches us Jesus endured and never said a word of complaint. He
asked for the cup to pass but when in it, he did not complain. His spirit took
pleasure (in the midst of physical pain) in doing the will of God. Luke
21:12-19 goes on to teach us to not even prepare for when we are tested but to
FULLY rely on the Lord for what He will give us to say and do. How can we do this if we are preparing and
enduring in bitterness, hatefulness, or a grumbling spirit? The first thing
that comes to mind is our own feedback on our circumstances, not what God would
have us respond.
All of scripture is filled with reminders that we must build
our endurance in good things (Galatians 6:9) God would not have inspired the
authors of scripture to reiterate the need for endurance so much if it was not
so difficult. The best way eliminate the chance of not enduring is to daily
pray that God will inhabit your every motion. Submit yourself, mind and body
before the Lord each day. Ask the Lord to control every aspect of who you are.
Ask Him to help build the endurance within you that will be perfect so that you
have no short comings and so that you can be reminded of how you are fully
fulfilled in Christ, lacking in nothing.
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