God's Completing Work (James 1:4)

Grin and bear it.  How many times has that been said to you or you have said it to yourself?  I remember a comic strip in the papers that boasted that title.  It was about the trials in life that we need to just deal with and move on.  There is a biblical term that has much the same meaning.  It is, patience.  Patience is not waiting because waiting only entails enduring until the end.  However patience is enduring until the end, but with cheerfulness.  How many people have you met who are in the midst of a great trial and struggle and yet they remain cheerful.  It isn't any secret to have that attitude because it will result from the Holy Spirit meeting with you and changing your hopeless view to that which agrees with his perspective.  

But, how do I get this view?  You get this view by seeing the end.  Just as God sees the end from the beginning, so you need to do the same.  You may not be able to see the details as he sees them, but you can see that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  You can see that whatever takes place it will be what is best for you and greatest for his glory.  You can even see that God will continue to be in control and that whatever happens, it is only by his will that it can take place.  When you truly have this perspective, you will also have patience.

Now when you have patience, it will do a work for you and in you.  When you allow God to do his complete work in your life, you become complete. The word perfect in this passage does not pertain to somebody who is without sin, wrong or error, but it means to be complete as in a complete set.  Patience is what you need so that you can be what you are intended to be.  The only place that You can get it is from trials.  Trials bring you to the end of yourself and when You are there, it is then that God can do something in and through you.

So, think of your trial.  Will you allow it to cause you to give up and quit, or will you yield to God so that he can do something even greater in your life: the completing work of patience?