It’s a beautiful day to be a neighbor.
Today’s Family Wins devotional reflects on James 1:2-3 — “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.”
We start the book of James today, one of my favorite books in the Bible. Character qualities such as perseverance develop with use. They are learned not in the classroom, but in the crucible of life. As Paul said, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance” (Romans 5:3). God knows the best way to build character, and He has His reasons for letting experience be the best teacher. H.A. Ironside makes it clear. It is no evidence of God’s displeasure when His people are called to pass through great trials. If you profess faith in the Lord, you can be sure that profession will be put to the test, sooner or later. Alas, we so often lose courage and grow despondent in the hour of trial, when it is the very time to look up into the Father’s face with confidence, knowing He is working out a purpose in us that could not be accomplished any other way. The trials James mentions are not temptations to sin, but tests of our faith, as when God tested Abraham. The man or woman who learns to submit to whatever God permits glorifies the One who orders all things according to the counsel of His own will. Think of gold in the fire. It emerges much the same, yet different: still gold, but brighter and purer. Faith in the furnace is the same. The heat only refines it, purifies it, strengthens it, and deepens it. So as the fire grows hotter, thank God that He values your faith in Him, and that this test will result in praise, glory, and honor to Him (1 Peter 1:7).
After you listen, go back and read James 1:1-18 for yourself — open your devotional to page 796, pull up the app, or grab your free copy at mindwolves.com/tfw. Let God speak to you directly, in your own time, in your own home.
A godly husband isn’t made in a day. Neither is a godly wife, a godly father, or a godly mother. They’re made in moments like this one — one verse, one choice, one day at a time.
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Grace and peace to you and your home.
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