The trials of life must produce patience in us

When the apostle James says that we consider it a joy to find ourselves in various trials, he is not suggesting that we necessarily rejoice in the emotional sense of the word, but rather that the joy he describes in this passage is rather a joy of the spirit.

It is the joy of the athlete who when he is in agony running and preparing for a race is enjoyed in an almost objective way by the fact that he is expanding his capacity, he is strengthening his muscles, he is training more for the victory that he wants to acquire in the race. next race. It is not a joy rather as superficial but it is the joy of knowing that something greater is coming from which we are benefiting when experiencing these difficult situations.

But then the apostle James says that the test of our faith produces patience. Patience is such an important characteristic in the lives of God's children. Without patience we cannot truly grow spiritually. Without patience we cannot have a good relationship with others when they offend us or when they cause us difficulties. Without patience we ourselves would leave the Christian race too quickly when things don't go our way. Without patience, a student who has a long academic or professional career ahead of him would end an effort too prematurely.

In other words, patience is one of those qualities that is so important to all believers and the apostle James himself later in James chapter 5 verse 7 talks a little more about patience, and he says: "Therefore brothers have patience until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently until he receives the former and latter rain. You too, be patient and strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord draws near. "

There we have one of the reasons why we have to be patient in the Christian life. The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ said He would return but the coming of the Lord has been long delayed. If we Christians become impatient with the coming of Christ we could very easily lose our faith. So one of the reasons we have to be patient is that the Lord, the Bible says don't be late in His coming but He has patience too, He is patient with us trying to make sure that the greatest number of people are converted and that the processes divine powers in history and in the world can be completed before Christ comes to put an end to all the processes of human history.

And we do not know when that time will be, so we have to be patient, know that God has His time for all things and we while we wait for the coming of the Lord to work and do everything we can here on Earth, and leave that coming of Jesus Christ in the hands of our sovereign God.

So the trials of life are forming in us that very important quality of patience and in this case specifically with regard to the Second Coming of the Lord. We should not get impatient simply because the Lord is late in His Second Coming but wait patiently and let the Lord be sovereign in this regard. One reason we have to rejoice in trials and in our next segment we will continue to ponder this.