The following is a devotion I wrote and presented at a camp I attended recently. :) - Bonnie
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Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Okay, so the first thing I want us to notice here is that James puts this little thought right at the start of his letter, straight after his greeting is over. Why? Maybe because it's important and he wanted us to take notice of it!
The second thing I want us to notice is that James says "consider it pure joy my brothers WHEN you face trials of many kinds" - notice it's not IF you face trials!
Trials and hard times will come to us. If you haven’t gone through any hard times in your life, don’t worry! No Christian is exempt. Trials will come, unfortunately. It's a matter of when, not if!
It's partly because we're in a spiritual battle and Satan is trying his hardest to draw us away from the faith. He doesn't concentrate on those who aren't Christians because he's already got them. We're the ones he's after, because we belong to Jesus.
I want you to imagine you’re baking a chocolate cake.
The two main processes of baking a cake are:
Blending. After the ingredients are all in the bowl, the electric beater mixes the ingredients so much that they are completely unrecognisable. The mixture becomes all soft, runny, gloopy and sticky.
Baking. The cake is subject to intense heat. It's incredibly painful. But the heat is what bakes the cake and produces something beautiful.
We are like that cake being baked. We go through the intense, difficult hard times and that's like the blending and the baking. In the blending we're mixed so much you wouldn't be able to recognize us! It's incredibly painful and hard. Then we're shoved into the oven and the heat is turned up. All the heat in the oven is concentrated on the cake, sitting there in the pan, being roasted alive.
I want you to imagine you’re baking a chocolate cake.
The two main processes of baking a cake are:
Blending. After the ingredients are all in the bowl, the electric beater mixes the ingredients so much that they are completely unrecognisable. The mixture becomes all soft, runny, gloopy and sticky.
Baking. The cake is subject to intense heat. It's incredibly painful. But the heat is what bakes the cake and produces something beautiful.
We are like that cake being baked. We go through the intense, difficult hard times and that's like the blending and the baking. In the blending we're mixed so much you wouldn't be able to recognize us! It's incredibly painful and hard. Then we're shoved into the oven and the heat is turned up. All the heat in the oven is concentrated on the cake, sitting there in the pan, being roasted alive.
When we're being blended or baked, we can’t see what is going on. We don't know that the purpose of the blending and baking is to produce a beautiful chocolate cake at the end of it all. Only the baker knows. He has the finished product in mind throughout the entire process.
The uncomfortable blending, and the painful heat of the baking may seem really pointless to us at the time. But what we don’t know is that we are being fashioned into something beautiful.
It’s only through the pain of blending and baking that we can become the rich, moist, tasty, beautiful creation of a chocolate cake.
When you’re in a trial it doesn’t seem very pleasant, does it? It doesn’t feel like it’s good for you.
But remember that God can be trusted. He knows what’s he’s doing. He is ultimately in control and he has in mind the cake he’s going for through all this.
I think that there are several reasons we have trials.
James 1:2 (emphasis added)
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
The testing of our faith develops perseverance, and perseverance must finish its work so that we become mature and complete, lacking nothing.
When you’re in a trial it doesn’t seem very pleasant, does it? It doesn’t feel like it’s good for you.
But remember that God can be trusted. He knows what’s he’s doing. He is ultimately in control and he has in mind the cake he’s going for through all this.
I think that there are several reasons we have trials.
James 1:2 (emphasis added)
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
The testing of our faith develops perseverance, and perseverance must finish its work so that we become mature and complete, lacking nothing.
The trials are for our good.
1 Peter 1:7 (emphasis added)
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
The trials have come so that the proven genuineness of our faith may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
The trials are for God's glory.
So all the hard times we go through are for our good and for his glory.
I want you to imagine a raging storm.
There are trees, bent low under lashing wind and driving rain, and lightning zigzagging across a dark, threatening sky.
In the center of the fury imagine a bird’s nest in the crotch of a gigantic tree.
And in the nest, a mother bird sits, spreading her wings over her little brood, waiting serene and unruffled for the storm to pass.
The mother bird isn't focused on the storm. Sure, she feels it and knows it's there, alright. But she rests, peacefully, waiting, looking after her chicks, because she knows that the storm won't last and she has faith that she will be kept safe.
When we’re in a hard time it’s hard to not focus on all the lightening around us. But we can be peaceful and rest in the midst of the storm.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
The trials have come so that the proven genuineness of our faith may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
The trials are for God's glory.
So all the hard times we go through are for our good and for his glory.
I want you to imagine a raging storm.
There are trees, bent low under lashing wind and driving rain, and lightning zigzagging across a dark, threatening sky.
In the center of the fury imagine a bird’s nest in the crotch of a gigantic tree.
And in the nest, a mother bird sits, spreading her wings over her little brood, waiting serene and unruffled for the storm to pass.
The mother bird isn't focused on the storm. Sure, she feels it and knows it's there, alright. But she rests, peacefully, waiting, looking after her chicks, because she knows that the storm won't last and she has faith that she will be kept safe.
When we’re in a hard time it’s hard to not focus on all the lightening around us. But we can be peaceful and rest in the midst of the storm.
The safest place in the entire world is in the nest of His hand.
We, like the bird, feel the storm, but we focus on Jesus.
Isaiah 26:3
We, like the bird, feel the storm, but we focus on Jesus.
Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts you.
John 16:33
John 16:33
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, for I have overcome the world.
Blessings to you all!
Thanks for a great post! THe verses that you choose were so meaningful.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous! God bless!
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