WHO PRAYED FOR GROWTH???
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4
Perhaps you’ve heard someone say not to pray for patience because you know what’s going to happen next. Well, if we take that same view, someone has been praying for growth, spiritual growth. In all seriousness, we probably don’t have to pray for either—life has enough troubles and trials.
According to James, it’s not “if,” troubles come, it’s “when” troubles come. Faith will be tested and that’s not a bad thing. For believers in God, we have His promises to hold onto as we go through the troubles.
In a nutshell, these verses teach us that we grow and mature through difficulty, not ease. James says, “your endurance has a chance to grow.” Our ability to endure as each trouble comes get’s stronger and stronger. James teaches us that troubles do not have to be a bad thing, because of what they produce. What’s on God’s agenda is what troubles produce, which is enduring faith. This probably isn’t exactly on the top of our agenda nor something we think about much. So let’s turn the tide then and start seeing what God sees is best for us.
“WE GROW AND MATURE THROUGH DIFFICULTY, NOT EASE.”
When my son Conner was only five, I would walk him into the ocean, but I didn’t let him go in without holding my hand. We would stand in the ocean at a safe depth. Waves would inevitably knock him down. Every year Conner went in deeper and every year I reminded him to respect the ocean. I taught him that the ocean is unforgiving and is only doing what God has intended it to do. This past summer, Conner was 10 and I noticed he was going into the ocean without my help and when large waves came, he knew how to handle them. Conner’s endurance is growing because he learned one wave at a time. I believe Conner is more confident, but he also trusted me to help him as he saw me watching from the deeper depths of the ocean. Conner knew I was in the water with him, ready to help if he needed it. To be clear, Conner is still learning to handle the ocean with humility.
God is in the troubled waters with you. Whether He is holding your hand or ahead of you in deeper waters, you can be sure you’re not alone. You can be confident that you can even handle new tides and bigger waves because God is with you. Right now, it feels more like a rip current in our world, but this doesn’t phase the One who made the ocean. God is still in charge.
Comfort doesn’t produce maturity and growth, troubles do. The coronavirus has us in the ocean whether we want to be or not. While sickness is evil and not from God, He is right there to redeem and help our world through this. Let’s look at this coronavirus outbreak as a means God is using to grow the endurance, the faith and the light of His church.
Here are a few ways our current circumstance can grow us:
We learn to pray and worship more, versus worry.
We look to God’s Word more than ever.
We let it humble us, revealing unhealthy patterns in our lives. For example: perhaps we were too liberal with our spending pre-coronavirus, now we are being more frugal.
We learn the fragility and mortality of life. Those who are vulnerable or immune compromised need our compassion and responsible obedience.
We learn that family and being a loving neighbor matters more than we realized.
We learn that church is better in person and not to take for granted the assembly of believers.
Why is this important? Troubles are not meant to destroy us, they are meant to develop us. Troubles produce a maturity where our faith in God is stronger and our light for God is brighter. Peter would have never known he could walk on water if his faith in Jesus wasn’t tested. Read about it here. We’re in the ocean so keep your eyes on Jesus—we’ll be closer to God and shine brighter because of it.
“TROUBLES PRODUCE A MATURITY WHERE OUR FAITH IN GOD IS STRONGER AND OUR LIGHT FOR GOD IS BRIGHTER.”
Written by: Pastor Ryan Coon
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