My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (Jam 1:2-4 NKJ)

“Count it all joy when you fall into various trials,” James says. This week we have been studying this text in some detail. Yesterday we looked at the need to develop spiritual muscle and endurance. That’s good news. The bad news is that spiritual muscle is not enough

1.Endurance works maturity and completeness – We need to get the full benefit as we endure the trial, don’t cut it short!

2.Maturity and completeness show that you are lacking nothing and are where God wants you right now.

Paul would agree with James, writing about church leadership and their role in the Christian discipleship process. He writes, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. (Eph 4:11-14 NKJ)

So, stay calm, God is still working in you.

Dr. Terry Threadwell

Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies

American Public University