Endurance

“Endure until your testing is over. Then you will be mature and complete, and you won’t need anything.” James 1:4

We usually hear this verse quoted something like this: “Let patience have its perfect work.” I think most of us perceive “patience” as non-active, letting life just sweep by, or sweep us along, while we do nothing on our part to advance. Even the idea of “enduring” can evoke thoughts of sitting in a foxhole, taking shot after shot, just waiting for the bad guys to stop firing at us.

The patience God wants us to have is quite active. It is based upon faith that, as we are involved in God’s plan, we can take one step after the other, trusting Him for the outcome. We endure the difficulties, not by laying down, but by continuing to do what God wants. When misused we continue to love our enemies. When misunderstood, we continue to speak the truth in love. When it feels we may never find our way out of difficult times, we continue in humble love to Him who loves us first.

What happens is that our attitude is different when we are enduring with the patience God provides. One person may be going through a time of financial stress. As they feel the stress their mind and body is affected, that stress being expressed in any of a number of negative ways. Internalized, it can cause depression and even sickness. Or, we take it out on those around us, causing arguments, or blaming others.

But something happens when we go through difficulties patiently keeping our hearts focused on God and His goodness. It is not so much that we are waiting for things to be over so that we can see the good stuff at the end. Although we do go through ups and downs, so that there are times of relief when certain trials are over. Putting our hope in God, we learn to think and act in new ways that are less harmful to ourselves and others.

This verse tells us we will be “mature and complete”. Too often our minds simply loop over and over through memories of past hurt or trauma. Learning to “bring God in” to present and past difficulties, letting Him teach us that He is (and was) actively present, eventually results in new ways of seeing the past and the present. “Enduring” with Jesus’ presence within, we find a courage born of the knowledge we are loved in the middle of our pain.

In fact, the Scripture promises we “won’t need anything”; the end result of patiently enduring with God in view. The result of slowly letting God have His way in our lives is much more complete and lasting than trying to instantly attain healing or change. Instead of trying to rush into it as if God waves a magic wand, changing us instantly for “old me” to new” me, we look back over the trial we endured, trusting God, and discover a newer, braver outlook.

An artist was creating a mosaic in a great cathedral in Italy. Before him was a table with thousands of pieces of ceramic. In front of him was the vast wall that would some day be covered with the mosaic. A tourist, watching him, asked: “Don’t you get impatient, knowing how much you have to do? Don’t you wonder if you’ll ever get it all done?” The artist wisely replied: “You know, I don’t. Every day I draw a circle indicating what I can do in that day, and I stay within that circle. I do the same thing the next day and the next day, and one day it will be complete.”

Stop looking at your whole life and wishing it would change. Take your eyes off what scares you in the future or hurts you from your past. Take each day as God’s gift, and trust Him in the middle of it, to provide exactly what you need.