Peter begins his epistle thanking and praising God for what he has done for us in the past, in the death and resurrection of Christ. Staring from what Christ has done in the past, Peter then looks ahead to the final day in which we will receive our eternal inheritance, an inheritance that is kept and preserved for us by God.

As Peter looks ahead to the subsequent glories of the cross he does not only look to the day of our eternal inheritance, he also addresses how the glories of the cross impact our current daily life. While the past work of the cross is supreme, and our future is wondrously glorious, so also our current life is filled with the glories of the cross.

But Peter is clear that in order to see and enjoy the subsequent glories of the cross in our daily lives we need to have faith. It is by the filter of faith that we can perceive the circumstances of our daily lives as glorious and hopeful. Whether we are experiencing an exciting day, a mundane day, or especially a painful day, we are able, by faith, to appreciate our circumstances as subsequent glories of the cross. Faith sees God’s hand and his Christ exalting purposes in every circumstance of our lives–most notably in trials. Without faith we don’t make these connections. No wonder Peter calls our faith “…more precious than gold.” Each time we make this connection–expressly in the midst of trials–and rejoice in God’s doing, we obtain a measure of the goal of our faith. We see God’s hand as he brings to completion the salvation of our souls.

We long for the final and ultimate entry into our eternal inheritance, but we also rejoice in every victory of our faith, every trial we endure, every sin put to death. This is God’s work: “…by his power we are guarded through faith…” (1 Peter 1:5). And so just as God himself has accomplished all that we need to be saved on the cross of the past, he is also currently working out the subsequent glories of the cross, by upholding our faith day-by-day, delivering to us measure-by-measure the goal of our faith, until the final day.

Thank you Jesus that your death was so great that it continues to afford to me subsequent glories to this very day. Your power and your life uphold my faith and so I have great hope. Help me to walk in the faith that you have given to me, rejoicing in you, rejoicing in the gospel of the cross and longing for the glories yet to come.

Paul endured all things, and he was enduring suffering in prison as he wrote 2 Timothy. Paul deliberately chose paths of difficulty and hardship; he was well-content with suffering because by them the chosen could obtain salvation. Certainly, Paul understood the nature of God’s sovereignty, his unconditional election, and the unchangeable state of God-wrought regeneration in the hearts of His chosen ones. So why wouldn’t Paul say something more like “I relax and rest knowing that the chosen will inevitably end up in eternal glory with Christ?” How is it that the chosen may obtain salvation in such a way that Paul’s enduring hardship had something to do with it? How is it, that Paul’s ability, willingness, and endurance were encouraged, helped and motivated by his view that its effects would result in the salvation of the chosen?

Clearly, Paul’s understanding of election is quite different from my notions of it, and the implications I bring to it with my 21st century mind. That God’s pre-determination of all things does not remove true requirements and conditions put upon those who are pre-determined is thoroughly biblical. Perhaps Paul’s previous short illustration of athletes that only win if they compete according to the rules, a few verses before this one, explains something of this spiritual dynamic. Runners must run to win. Not only that, but they must train, practice, push themselves, and suffer pain to win a race. If a runner knew with certainty, by direct revelation from God, that he would be the winner of the race, he could not, based on that knowledge, stop training or allow himself to get out of shape before the race. He would still have to run, train, work out, and compete according to the rules.

God has set rules that govern our salvation and our entrance into it (such as “through much tribulation,” in Acts 14:22). Paul knew that his suffering was part of the race set before him. His suffering was designed into the rules of the game such that by them he would “fill up what was lacking with regard to Christ’s afflictions,” Col 1:24.

Therefore even though Paul knew better than anyone that God would invariably glorify every single one that he had chosen, with out a single exception, and that He would do it by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone; he also knew that the way this would be played out would be, in part, through Paul’s own endurance of suffering. Paul was not passive, but entirely active, earnest, and resolute in all his spiritual activity; in order that all God that had pre-determined, would take place. Not just that the ultimate outcome would take place – but that the outcome would take place and that it would take place according to the “rules,” or according to the means that God had ordained and determined. These means (of grace) are by no means static, automatic or mechanical. They include and depend upon real action, effort and use of them on my part. Paul knew very well that, all that he was, and all that he did, was by grace and through grace, to the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:13).

I have been pondering this subject – the non-mechanical use of the means of grace – for some time now. I have become convinced that in my life, the degree to which I understand this doctrine, and practice my religion accordingly, I live by a vigorous and engaged involvement with God. Conversely, the more I fall back into a sense of automation or passivity – or in other words, the more that I view my spiritual/eternal condition as detached from how I live today, the more I become discouraged, despondent and fatigued.

Despondency, or self-pity, is a mortal enemy of mine. I hate it, but my flesh likes the taste of its bitter fruit. When I suffer, for example with chronic back pain, I can choose to either live according to the flesh and eat self-pity to my destruction (forgive me Lord for how often I eat it), or I can remind myself that as I endure all things (including an aching back), that I do so somehow not just for my sake but also for the sake of the chosen. Somehow in God’s rules, he can take my endurance of pain and put it to work so that not only will I enter salvation through perseverance, but that his people also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it, eternal glory. My suffering – and more importantly my enduring with faith really matters! It is part of God’s pre-determined rules for my race and that somehow by running it with endurance I will receive a reward, and the saints may also enter eternal glory. Such a view of the non-mechanical means of grace – governed completely and sovereignty by God – yet that genuinely require my choices and actions – invigorates, motivates and enables my endurance. They really matter. They really are effective. They go to work in me and have an effect on others – according to God’s rules and God’s grace. This kind of living puts a knife in the heart of self-pity. Living this way can turn weakness into communion with God, instead of a pity-party.

O Lord, please have mercy on me and forgive my sin. Too often I forget that your grace is sufficient for me. O, that my flesh actually likes the tastes of self pity’s bitter fruit is a horrible reality. Strengthen my hands for battle against this enemy and cause me use all the means you’ve ordained – especially that I would delight myself with the sweet fruit of communion with you. Remind me Lord, every day, that my afflictions are ordained – they are rules set by you for me to endure and that how endure them matters. Thank you that you require me to engage my will to run, and more importantly that you give me the strength, by your grace, to run. Praise you Lord Jesus. Amen.

James 1:4

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.