“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.
You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. 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.”
James 1:2-4 MSG
WHAT? Seriously? When tests and challenges come along, I’m to consider them a gift?
I don’t know about you, but I’m not one to stand, with arms wide-open, on the street corner, welcoming the next test or challenge to walk with me. Let alone, being bombarded by them from every side, “considering them a gift”!
However, as I reflect on this fallen world, that’s pretty much how life works. You’re either coming into a problem, in a problem, or coming out of a problem. Yep. That’s it.
Welcome to our world. “Tests and challenges coming at you from all sides.” It’s how you choose to respond to them that makes ALL the difference in your world.
If I’m walking by faith, (Romans 1:17), I will see these tests and challenges through God’s lens, knowing He’s allowed them for my good and His glory. In other words, “a sheer gift” to grow up my faith.
If faith isn’t tested it won’t grow, but faith tested WILL grow. Under these daily pressures, my faith-life is showcased and displays its true colors, so don’t try to preempt what God is trying to accomplish. He desires that you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in ANY way.
It takes the pressures of everyday life to mature your faith. And that’s a very good thing. So, when the next challenge comes along (and it will), your faith is ready to embrace it, through God’s lens, knowing it was allowed somehow for your good and His glory.
BAM! Your faith has just matured! Reaching the well-developed checkmark on God’s Faith-Growth Chart. It’s doing its work in you, not only for your good, but for others. They are watching this amazing faith process and standing in awe. They want what you have, so they too can navigate through life’s tests and challenges with victory!
