“And let endurance have its perfect result.”
Oh how impatient I am. I am the result of a fast-food, microwave, “fast-acting pain relief”, drive-thru, FedEx, instant internet access, email, culture. I have been trained to demand the things I want and expect them to be delivered immediately. How naturally I bring such expectations into my spiritual life with Christ. I want the results of Christian discipline without the discipline. I want the fruit of spiritual apprehension without taking the time to apprehend. I want promised answers to prayer without importunity in prayer. I want spiritual appetites without hunger.
God wants me to be holy, He wants me to bear spiritual fruit, He wants to glorify Himself through answered prayer, He wants to bless me, and by His grace He will fashion me into a proper receptacle for His grace. But He will accomplish this through testing, refining, and trial. These are the tools of my God. He uses a hammer and an anvil to go to work on my hard heart. He places me in the coals to soften the material of my stubborn soul then pounds me into the shape He desires, making me fit into His glorious purpose.
When tried, I must endure. It is not just the trial, but endurance that produces the intended result. Endurance has little meaning in the absence of struggle or pain. We don’t use the word “endure” in reference to our pleasures and comforts, only to our pains.
But in endurance is great hope; hope that is the foundation for the joy we are told to have when facing trials. The promise is that endurance has a result. It produces a perfect result and we are exhorted here in James to let endurance have its perfect result. The result mentioned here is that we would be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing. This promise is beyond my understanding, but I rejoice that endurance does produce a true result. Thank God that His blows are not without lasting effect. Each strike on the iron of my heart bears its perfect impression. Jesus never uses too many, or too few blows. His aim and skill as a “soul smith” is perfect. His craftsmanship is impeccable. I am so glad that when Jesus goes to work and accomplishes His purposes through trials, that the results have their perfect effect, and my heart is truly changed by His skilled hands.
Lord, thank you so much for past trials and testing. Thank you for granting me grace to endure. Lord please let endurance have its perfect result in my life. Thank you that in the many trials yet to come, for I have not endured to the end, you will do your work perfectly. Let me trust in the day of trouble and look forward your perfect results. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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