The Message
So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
New American Standard
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
I like the The Message's version of today's verse. Don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Our first inclination when trials hit is to want to get it over with as soon as possible. Normal human reaction. But now that we know that it's God's way of "pruning" us, perfecting us, why would we want to short-change that process. Because it hurts, that's why. Nobody likes pain...except maybe some deranged masochist type of person. So resist that first urge to remove the pain as quickly as possible and instead pray that God shows you why he has you going through the pain in the first place and be hopeful about what he's trying to show you. When going through a trial there's only one way out of it and that's through it. There are no side exits. You have to endure it. Remember though from yesterday God won't allow you to have more than you can endure. There is an end, it may take a little longer than you would like. Trying to think of a practical example...maybe it's a lot like working out. When you first start exercising, say walking, you don't go very fast or very far but at least you're going. As you do it more and more you can walk farther and faster. You're body builds up endurance. That's what God is doing with trials. He's building up endurance which in the spiritual sense is making us mature as a Christian. I remember my wife's grandmother who was 90 or so when she went to be with the Lord. Godly woman. Volunteered at the hospital almost till the day she died. Never said a bad thing about anyone. You know the type. So do you think she became that way overnight, or was born that way? I'm sure personality types enter into how we react to trials but I say no, she went through many trials in her life that matured her as a Christian so that by the time she died there weren't many trials that life could throw at her that she wouldn't "count all joy" that she was going through them.
I was reading something earlier that Warren Wiersbe wrote, He said, "Our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to count it all joy. If we live only for the present and forget the future, then trials will make us bitter, not better." He's right. Your values determine your evaluation of that trial you're going through. If we can't rejoice in our trials, then maybe our values are wrong.
Of course while I'm writing this, I'm thinking in the back of my mind, the Lord is probably going to make you live this soon. Well I just pray that I have the strength to do what I've written and I pray that you do too.
New American Standard
And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
I like the The Message's version of today's verse. Don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Our first inclination when trials hit is to want to get it over with as soon as possible. Normal human reaction. But now that we know that it's God's way of "pruning" us, perfecting us, why would we want to short-change that process. Because it hurts, that's why. Nobody likes pain...except maybe some deranged masochist type of person. So resist that first urge to remove the pain as quickly as possible and instead pray that God shows you why he has you going through the pain in the first place and be hopeful about what he's trying to show you. When going through a trial there's only one way out of it and that's through it. There are no side exits. You have to endure it. Remember though from yesterday God won't allow you to have more than you can endure. There is an end, it may take a little longer than you would like. Trying to think of a practical example...maybe it's a lot like working out. When you first start exercising, say walking, you don't go very fast or very far but at least you're going. As you do it more and more you can walk farther and faster. You're body builds up endurance. That's what God is doing with trials. He's building up endurance which in the spiritual sense is making us mature as a Christian. I remember my wife's grandmother who was 90 or so when she went to be with the Lord. Godly woman. Volunteered at the hospital almost till the day she died. Never said a bad thing about anyone. You know the type. So do you think she became that way overnight, or was born that way? I'm sure personality types enter into how we react to trials but I say no, she went through many trials in her life that matured her as a Christian so that by the time she died there weren't many trials that life could throw at her that she wouldn't "count all joy" that she was going through them.
I was reading something earlier that Warren Wiersbe wrote, He said, "Our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to count it all joy. If we live only for the present and forget the future, then trials will make us bitter, not better." He's right. Your values determine your evaluation of that trial you're going through. If we can't rejoice in our trials, then maybe our values are wrong.
Of course while I'm writing this, I'm thinking in the back of my mind, the Lord is probably going to make you live this soon. Well I just pray that I have the strength to do what I've written and I pray that you do too.
I want to start something new today also. Prayer concerns. I don't know how many people are reading my rambling but even if it's one, I'd ask you to pray for my concerns and if you post yours I promise I will pray for them also. I think in an earlier post I said that prayer can be a whole topic of it's own. I just know that prayer works. Maybe after James we'll tackle prayer.
So I'm not going to go through my whole prayer list but maybe just one a day. Today, pray for my brother-in-law Dick ( I actually have two brother-in-laws named Dick, but the Lord knows which one I'm talking about) that the medicine he's taking will work so he won't have to have surgery.
See you tomorrow.
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