Blessings Come Fourth 👉🔢
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." ~ James 1:2-4
In last week's devotional, we looked at James' outline of living and growing gracefully in the Faith, trusting God through challenges and producing true perseverance.
In James 1:2,3 we saw that the blueprint laid out in the Bible is made available plainly for us to follow... as easy as 1, 2, 3.
First, we learn how to face the trials, then we learn how to consider it joy while going through those trials and then we learn how to produce perseverance despite the trials.
This week, we take it to the next step, because after we master the first 3 steps, then comes the next step, which is to allow perseverance to run its full course so that through it and after the trials, we can be built up, mature, complete... lacking nothing.
The picture that James paints here is one of a believer in Christ who loves the Lord in spirit AND in truth, whose daily actions match their daily words, where there is no bifurcation between what they believe and who they are.
This is the depiction of true integrity and solid character.
This is the kind of character that thrives whether in the midst of plenty or in the midst of lack. This is the kind of person that is not lacking anything.
Whether God showers them with lavish abundance, or they face challenges as a result of unmet wants and desires, the situation remains the same... such a person remains content, with the propensity and the resolve to be full of joy and satisfied by the assurances of God.
That my friend, is real Blessing.
So whenever trials and crosses come knocking on your door and seem determined to put your resilience to the test, just remember that persevering is as easy as 1, 2, 3 and then your Blessings Come Fourth.