James 1:12–Remain Steadfast

James 1:12–"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him."

Perseverance is, by definition, a difficult thing. It asks us to withstand tension, sometimes to the point of breaking us because of the strain.  But, as James is writing here, perseverance is about staying steadfast in enduring the trials that test us, and in so doing we will be refined and rewarded.  The point is that we would remain steadfast whilst under the taxing struggles of this life.  So let us not grow tired of being perseverant for if we are we will receive blessing from God.

James 1:2-3–Count Trials as Joy

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."

This can be a very difficult passage to embrace.  It speaks of trials with an eye with joy, not to think of the trial for its present infliction but to consider them, rather, as means to a godly end.  The point, then, that we infer from this passage is that the any trial that we may face can be reduced if we maintain a proper perspective of hope that God would and does use every to grow His people.  It is true that trials will come and that we will still feel pain.  But we should not lose our secure hope in the reality that God uses whatever predicament we may find ourselves in for our good and for His glory.

All I can say to this is:

Amen!  Praise be to God!

James 1:2-4–"Count it All Joy in Meeting Trials"

James 1:2-4–"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Many times have I read this verse with a level of incredulity.  I mean, doesn't James have this wrong? Joy, really?  We are called to have joy? But over the years and with the presence of the Holy Spirit, I have come to accept that James is saying something incredibly profound and, quite frankly, amazing. To be sure, James, and the witness of the Holy Spirit, are exhorting believers to have right perspective when we are faced with tribulation.  However, we should not merely think of this passage as only a commandment; it is also a promise.  The promise is that trials are a source of joy for believers.  This is not to assert that they are joyful to be in but, rather, that trials impart a sincerity and depth of character that we would never receive otherwise.

Therefore, we should strive to have this attitude among ourselves to face trials with joy, understanding that it is through trials that we would grow to be more Christ-like.

Philippians 3:14–Pressing Onward

Philippians 3:14: "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

This verse is about, among many things, perseverance.  It speaks of pressing on toward the goal of praising Christ Jesus with every available talent, resource, and breath.  In context, Paul tells us all of the sacrifice and hardship that he has been forced to endure for the gospel, but he concludes that he "counts it all rubbish."  There is no greater prize, no more valuable treasure than to serve God with earnestness and passion.  Any other treasure is not only transient and failing, it is also counterfeit and insufficient.  Let us then press on toward the eternal prize that is knowing and serving God in Christ Jesus!

Galatians 6:9–Do Not Grow Weary in Doing Good

Galatians 6:9: "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

Doing good with perseverance is the very essence of giving ourselves fully to Christ.  But we do good with a resolute hope that our steadfastness in godliness will reap a harvest.  And this harvest is not one of financial blessing or prosperity in wealth; it is a harvest of souls won for Christ.  Our good is not done because we expect to receive some sort of monetary reward. We persist in doing good for the sake of eternity.  That is why we do not give up and why we do not taint our goodness by disillusion or weariness of our perseverance in goodness.

Let us then remember:
Do not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."

Persisting in Prayer

Matthew 7:7-8: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."

These two verses come near the end of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7).  They are poetic, pithy, and memorable.  Yet, for all the lyrical elegance and fine poeticism, we should not miss the real and important point that Jesus is making.

Jesus is exhorting believers to persist in their pursuit of God, to persevere in the quest for the Lord.  There is a progression: ask, seek, and knock.  Essentially, Jesus is prescribing the persistence it takes to get to God.  This is in no way to say that God is distant or far off.  Rather, their is a refinement, a proof-in-pudding that occurs when we truly commit to pursue after God.

Think of Abraham: waiting decades for God to provide him with a son.  Yet when the son is born, God asks him to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Abraham then climbs the mountain with his son, ties Isaac, places him on the altar, and then, as he is about to sacrifice Isaac, God relents Abraham's hand, providing the sacrifice himself.  In the end, God knew that He wouldn't actually have Abraham sacrifice Isaac, but He needed Abraham himself to recognize his utter commitment to God.

Similarly, God knows when we will come to Him, but He wants us to ask, seek, and knock so that we will acknowledge how utterly devoted we are to God.  This is the essence of Jesus' exhortation.  Let us then commit to ask, seek, and knock with perseverant pursuit, eagerly chasing after the Lord.

A Long Walk Home

For various reasons, when I was a middle-school aged child  I often found myself suspended from the school bus.  When this occured, plans needed to be made for me to get to and from school.  The school was about five miles away from home, so mom or dad would drive there in the morning and I would be left to my own devices to bike or walk home.

In the beginning of the school year or near the end, when the temperatures were warmer and the streets were free of snow/debris, bicycling was the way to go.  But to my discredit, suspensions can occur at any time of the year and, inevitably, they seem to always occur when it's cold outside and there is snow on the ground, prohibiting the use of my bike and forcing me to do something I would rather not do: walk home.

However, seeing as waiting around several uneccessary hours for one of my parents to get off work and pick me up from school would be a ludicrous suggestion, both for me and my parents, I became determined to walk home.  At least one half of this walk would be at least somewhat agreeable: well-plowed, close-to-road sidewalks.  But for more than a negligible part of the walk, due to the necessary route(s), I had to tredge through unplowed snow for a good amount of time.

On one such day under these sorts of circumstances, I had to walk home.  Yet, unbeknownst to me before school, there was an ample snow fall during the school hours, meaning two things: (1) that I would be walking through a foot of snow, and (2) I was woefully underdressed for such an endeavor.  Being a middle-schooler with a middle schooler's understanding of how meteorological patterns affect garment decisions, I had failed to bring a winter coat or shoes that were suitable for my walk.  But, as there was no choice otherwise, I still had to walk home.

Half way on my journey, in the thick of the snow, every step became a bear as I plodded, cruching with each struggling stride.  My limbs were so cold that I had brought my arms back through my sleeves and I was clutching them around the trunk of my core.  Luckily, my feet had been numbed by the frigid snow encasing my thin tennis shoes with each step that they barely hurt at all, only tinging subtley with every labored hoof.

At some point, exhaustion hit me and I stopped.  I was more than half-way home, but I was still about two miles away from home.  Although I was in the middle of suburbia, becuase my route took me through the county park, no one would ever know where I really was.  As I stood still in a snow-covered emptiness, I searched my hazy breaths for some of the most sincere thoughts that I had ever or have ever since. 

I could sense a sort of foreboding danger in the numbness of my limbs and I feared that I might not make it home in time to prevent hypothermia.  My ears felt like they were on fire to the point that I had to touch them to be assured that, no, they were in fact almost frozen.  Fear and worry filled my arctic thoughts.  I knew that there were two possibilities: (1) I could give up, or (2) I could become determined and trudge on homeward.

To be sure, for a middle school kid this is an existential dilemma but I decided that the latter was the better option.  So, with each new step I garnered a bit more determination and will to continue on my path and to reach my goal.  This was one of those days that affected me.  Ever since, I have learned that there is incredible value in setting a course and, though it may be challenging and long, to stick to it with consistent perseverance.  Funny thing is that when I came to Christ and started reading HIs Word in earnest, I learned that this is exactly how God desires us to endure in our faith.  Praise be to God for those moments of deep learning that can happen amidst the strangest circumstances in life!

Working because its Right

Over the course of the past couple of decades, America has seen a dramatic change in its work force.  The increase in the technology of distractions (video games, entertainment, etc.) and the growing sense of entitlement has created generations of Americans who either do not know how to work or just don't want to.  It is more than the concept of rest in relation to work.  Rather it is the idea of the value of work.

For starters, there is a significant difference between resting after work, and deciding to be lazy and slothful before ever working at all.  This is a major issue of extreme importance, and if we miss this one, we will never live our lives to the extent that God has for us.

In reality, work and the whole concept of work goes back to the very beginning of time.  When Adam was created, God ordained him for work.  Work marks the days, six on and the seventh off.  It is also work that informs life with purpose and intent.  If we understand that work has not deviated from its origins, then we can begin to understand that to skew our concepts of work isnothing less than disbelief and, dare I say, sin.

For this, the writer of Ecclesiastes, a wise man with wisdom to share, has much to say in this regard:

"Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil which one toils with under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot (Ecc. 5:18)."

Although this is a single passage of Scripture describing the value of work, particularly the worth of enjoying one's work, it is by no means an isolated instance in which work is esteemed for its value.  Instead, this is just a simple and overarching reality of human life.  We, as humans, are made to work just as work has been made for us.  Assessing the purposes and reasons behind are more than this dialogue permits, suffice to say that it is God's will that we work and work with diligence and enjoyment.

Unfortunately, there have been misconceptions of what constitutes enjoyment in our culture.  Our world has misconstrued enjoyment to mean something less-satisfying and more instantly-gratifying, to the detriment of the good that comes from having to work for enjoyment, namely perseverance and character.  Should it be any wonder, then, why the world is inundated with people who lack character and inner fortitude?  Let us then take joy in the toils under the sun all the days of our lives, knowing that God has made us for this and He has purposes for us through it!

Running the Race like the Scot threw the Discus

There is an old story about a nineteenth-century Discus thrower that goes something like this:

A young man who lived in a Scottish village in the nineteenth-century wanted to be a star athlete.  He knew that he was athletic and strong, but because he wasn't a great runner, he needed a different event.  This was well before internet or even television, but after reading a local newspaper's report of an English track and field event, the man decided that he would become a discus thrower.

Because the man lived in a remote rural village, finding a discus was not an easy thing; in fact, it was impossible.  To remedy the situation, the young man, using a a description from a book, built himself a discus.  However, the young man misinterpreted the disc description: he thought that the disc was made completely of iron, whereas the competition discs were made of wood with an iron rim.

The Scot marked the record distance on the far end of the field and for over a year practiced throwing his all-iron disc until he could regularly throw beyond the record.  The man traveled to England for his first competition against some of the world's best throwers.  Yet, we the officials handed him the wooden disc for his first throw, he threw it with ease, setting long-standing records in the process.  It was the added burden during training that helped him succeed.

Both Paul and James speak of the necessity of persevering under weight and pressure (Rom. 5:1-5; James 1:2-4).  The idea is that endurance requires an attitude.  The discus champion above was focused, intent on becoming the best.  And, although he did not know that he was training with a discus that was far-heavier than it needed to be, it was in fact the added weight that made him so good.  

Similarly, if we are intentional in our pursuit of God and spiritual growth, we should take the same mind as the discus thrower: studying and loving beyond what is necessary so that we grow.  Needless to say, the reality of this boils down to a single, but essential word, work.

Consider the words of Paul in his letter to the Corinthians:

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.  They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified (1 Cor. 9:24-27)."

How Far Would We Go For Love?

There is an old sailor's tale that goes something like this:

There was once a proud sailor.  He had sailed the seas of the world his entire life, living his whole life on a ship.  The sailor had always loved the allure and freedom of the seeing, never considering that he would or even could be pulled away from the torrent and tides of the deepest oceans.  He had a variety of lovers at each of the ports he would visit; a different girl in every place.

Then, on one of his frequent in-land tours, he and his party stumbled across a native peoples that intrigued him.  They were a fishing tribe but were remarkable skilled in dying fabrics, and they wore of the brightest colored clothing that he had ever come across.  While trading various trinkets with the tribe, he met the chief's daughter.

She was a beautiful woman with auburn hair that stirred up images of autumn and her lightly-tinted, grain-colored skin reminded him of the grain-filled pastoral plains of his childhood.  Within moments of being in her presence, he fell for her like the dropping of an anchor from the ship of his heart.  He vowed that he would make her his wife.

The sailor brought the woman gifts of the finest jewels and silk from the farthest corners of the earth but she was uninterested in his knickknacks.  He then decided that he would impress her by studying her tribe's culture and history.  As his ship set sails for other shores, he stayed behind to settle with her until he could convince her that he loved her.  For months, he tried to impress her with his enthusiasm and gifts, but he was always hindered by the significant language barrier.

Finally, as his time was drawing to a close because his ship would be returning, he determined to learn to speak her language so that he could tell her in her tongue that he was madly in love with her and that he wanted to make her his wife.  Over much arduous and intent practice, he had finally learned enough to tell her that he loved her.

In the end, this final step was what the chief's daughter was waiting for.  Although there had been many sailors who had tried to woe her and win her hand with gifts, none of them had been so determined in his affections that he would learn her own language.  When the sailor had learned her language and gotten to the point that he could tell her how he felt, he had proven his love for her by his persistent pursuit and determination. She then knew that he would go to any lengths to love her.

This tale is one of love.  It is remarkable how determined the sailor was to love the woman.  He went to the limits of his power to express his love for her: he gave her his finest treasures, he gave her his time, his career, and his mind.  In the end, it was his utter and persistent devotion that was the limit of his love.

Let us translate this to God.  How far are we willing to go to love God?  Would we give up all our treasures? Our time?  Our very lives?  Like the sailor, there should be no lengths to which we would not be willing to go to show our love for God.  Truly, there are many verses that express this very thought, but perhaps Jesus' words in Matthew 16:25 says it best:

"Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

Let us, then, determine to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and with all strength regardless of the cost!

The Olympics of Life

Every couple of years, the Olympics take place and sets the whole world in a stir of competition as the world's greatest athletes compete for their respective countries and for the chance to be deemed the very best at their sport.  To win the gold medal at the Olympics is the crowning achievement for these athletes who have spent, in some cases, their whole lives preparing for a chance, usually only a single in their lifetimes, to win.

Think of the years of preparation for an event that can sometimes take mere moments to complete.  The 100m freestyle swimming event, for instance, is over within seconds, and a lifetime's worth of training comes to fruition.  But, as the pool settles and the water returns to its rest, the times come in to determine whether one is a winner or not.

It is at this season when two particular verses of Scripture continually come to mind: 1 Cor. 9:24-27 and Hebrews 12:1-2.  Both of these passages deal with the theme of perseverance and endurance for the purposes of godliness and sanctification.  There is a sense, for both Paul and the writer of Hebrews, that the Christian is to train for godliness so as to be prepared to run the long race that is the Christian life.

Paramount to this is to understand that while each one of us is running our own race, we each run it together; we are not running individually.  This may seem paradoxical, because we are competing both in an individual event as well as a team event.  However, our individual race is done with the power fo the Holy Spirit, who empowers us with the strength and stamina to fight the good fight and to stay true.  Additionally, the team event is the Church, both the global Church and the local church. Both are important, as we, as individuals, need to rely on each other continuously for strength and for encouragement.  Let us then heed the words of Hebrews and begin to take our training much more seriously, because our competitive event is life itself:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every sin and weight which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is marked out for us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2)."

A Story of Hidden Agendas that Aren't so Hidden

Daniel Pink tells a story in his book What Color is Your Parachute of his wife, Carol, a career counselor.  Carol had a client named George.  George had worked in the rubber industry for years and came to Carol for some help.  George explained on the first session that he wanted to get out of the rubber business.  In response, Carol gave George some homework and sent him on his way till their next session.


At the next session, George showed up with not one lick of his homework completed.  Carol looked at George, and point-blank asked him, "George, noticing that you haven't done this work, I have to ask: what will happen if you don't get out of the rubber industry?"  George answered back, "My wife will divorce me."  Carol, not missing a beat, asked, "George, do you want your wife to divorce you?"  
George just smirked.  He then shared with Carol that what he really wanted was a divorce, and that he would never change his job until he got that done first.  George's real agenda had nothing to do with a job, but everything to do with a divorce.  Because of that, he would never change.


People won't change unless they want to.  No amount of external prompting or orthodox teaching can affect someone to change if they do not desire to change.  For instance, there is a young man I know who swears till he's blue in the face that he would give anything to quit smoking.  But every time someone else lights a cigarette around him, he lights one up too.  He still buys pack of cigarettes, but always tells people that he's quitting; like this is his "last" pack, or that he only smokes when he drinks.  He claims to want to change, but his actual agenda is to feed his addiction.


There are many verses that speak to the need to put God first in our lives.  In fact, it could be said that the whole of Scripture is focused on this very thing.  Our sanctification is at stake.  We will never be able to transform by the renewal of our minds and the regeneration of our hearts if we do not want to. Because of this, we should check ourselves for any underlying sinful agendas that would distract us or inhibit our growth.  Let us then strip ourselves of agendas that hinder so as to come closer to God by His will!

The Salt & Light Snowblower

Several years ago, Ned bought a new snow blower, which is a necessity for the snowy winters of Minnesota.  Previously he had always shoveled his driveway and it took over an hour.  But now, with that beautiful machine, he could get it done in less than five minutes.  The ease of snow-blowing took away the all-too familiar dread of having to shovel.  He even enjoyed doing the drive.

The second winter he had the blower, two elderly neighbors from California moved in across the street.  The couple both had heart problems and Ned noticed them struggling to shovel the drive after the first snow fall.  When he saw them wrestling with the snow, he simply started his blower, pushed it across the street, and did their's too.  It just became a part of the routine; twelve minutes for both drives.  Ned then also remembered that his other neighbor, Mike, left for work at 4:30 in the morning, so he bagan doing his too.  Another four minutes.

A few years later, his next door neighbor, Larry, passed away.  Because his widowed wife, Pearl, was also elderly, Ned just started doing hers too.  Another five minutes.  Later that same year, the neighbors down the block had a baby, so Ned added their's to his routine too.  By the end of that year, Ned was snow blowing about a half hour and doing five driveways.

Ned was happy to be the neighborhood plowman, relishing in the joy of caring for and serving his community.  One night, though, he fell deathly ill and had to be taken to the hospital.  Over the course of a two day bed-ridden, hospital stay he recovered and was eventually released.  As his wife was driving him home, he felt so bad because there had been a huge snowfall the night before.

However, as they arrived back in the neighborhood, he was astonished to see that all of the driveways were done.  To his amazement, Ned's wife told him that in the morning she looked out the front window to see one of their other neighbors, whom they had never even met, doing the driveways.  Ned nearly broke into tears. He never realized the affect that he had made over the past few years.

The point is example.  If we are to be the salt and light of the world, the very hands and feet of Christ, then we need to look at the needs around us and step in to fill them.  Jesus calls us to love as He loves us.  Think of that: He gave His very life, dying upon the cross to serve and to love all humankind.  Laying down our preference and our comfort in order to care for others is what being a Christian is all about.  Therefore, let us seek out opportunities to serve and then seize them for Him!

Using Time to the Fullest

Much of Holy Writ is dedicated to the task of understanding wisdom.  Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the book of Job are all explicitly devoted to the quest for wisdom.  The particulars of wisdom are examined by pitting wisdom against folly.  The onset of the search for wisdom is the fear of God (Pro. 9:10).  Reverence for God is the beginning of wisdom, and should guide every decision in every situation we may face.

Some of the most constant and challenging decisions we face is that of time usage.  Time is limited; there is only so much of it to do all of the things that need to be done.  Everyday, several times a day, we face decisions in how we will choose to devote our time.  As a result, a true test of wisdom is in how well we make use of the time we have been given because our time is so limited.  We should, then, strive to prioritize with wisdom so as to not let the time go along in uselessness.

Paul exhorts believers in Ephesians to live wisely by making the most use of the time, for the days are evil (Eph. 5:15-16).  Truly, this is the case.  For time passes whether we are aware of it or not.  And if we are not paying attention, it will be too late before we realize.  Paul echoes his exhortation in his letter to the Colossians (Col. 4:5), indicating that this is an important teaching and should not be quickly neglected.

Ultimately, godly time management and prioritization is a practice that takes effort, diligence, and discipline.  Often the trappings of the world have such a hook-like pull that distract us from the tasks we have been called to complete.  Think of all the time we've so easily spent online, in front of the television, or just sitting around doing nothing.  In the end, this should not be so.  Let us then press on in faith and obedience to make the best use of the blessed time that God has given us!

Rest for the Weary

Paraphrased from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings:

In preparations for his one-hundred-and-an-eleventh birthday, Bilbo Baggins was sitting in his kitchen with his good friend, the wise wizard, Gandalf.  Gandalf was astonished at how young the old hobbit appeared, despite his apparent age.  After some brief conversation, Bilbo, became vulnerable with his friend and commented on his age, "I'm tired, Gandalf.  Like butter scraped over too-much bread."

Unlike fictitious hobbits, humans do not need to be one-hundred-and-eleven years old to feel burnt-out, spread thin across the bread of this life.  In the hustling bustle of contemporary culture, where working to exhaustion is the subsumed norm of life, taking a moment to recollect and breathe is an utter necessity.  However, Scripture speaks of God as the source of respite amidst the storms of fatigue.

While it could be useful to ask why are we burnt-out, in an effort to assess whether the various sources of our weariness are in fact worthy in themselves, for the purposes of this brief discussion we will assume, rather, that we are tired and look to God's Word for relief from the desperate tiredness of modern life.

At the onset, God must be the starting point in any conversation of rest.  The Lord God Almighty created the whole of creation.  And, in His infinite and perfect wisdom, He created day and night, a regular cycle.  This cycle lends itself perfectly to man who is built with a need to rest.  Moreover, He instituted a day of rest, a sabbath, so that man may find relief.  These are not coincidental or inconsequential truths; God has factored our need for relief from work into creation itself.

Additionally, weariness is the fertile soil of endurance, and it is endurance that grows into character of the godliest pedigree (Rom. 5:1-5; James 1:2-4, 12).  Again, the purpose of this dialogue is not to address the reason for tiredness, although it will suffice to say that weariness arising from wickedness or sinful activity will breed no endurance and cannot be soil for character growth.

The point is that God has made Himself to be our rest.  He has fashioned creation for our rest and has made us to rest.  Unfortunately, from time to time, we find ourselves in seasons that require us to regularly work ourselves into utter exhaustion.  During these prolonged periods of tiredness, it is essential that we remember to rely on God for our rest and relief.  Let us then hold fast in faith to the Holy Lord so as to be filled with relief even amidst the trials of endurance!

Praying Persistently

Think of this all-too familiar scene:

A parent is pushing the grocery cart as fast as they can through the store, navigating it like a needle and thread, sewing through the aisles and getting just the essentials so as not to be there any longer than needed.  The reason for their frantic but focused speed is because they have a loud, obnoxious child at their heels, incessantly begging for a piece of candy.  

With every expert weave of the cart and stop to dump product into the basket, the child makes the same whimpered plea, "Mommy! Please, just one!"  On and on the battle rages, the mother determined not to give in to her child and the child knowing that if he plays this game long enough he'll wear her down and get the candy.  By the time the mother and child get to the register, the kid is eating the aforementioned candy and the mother is harried and hoarse from yelling under her breath.  Persistence pays off.

There are two passages of Scripture that speak directly to the necessity of persistance in prayer (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8).  In the first, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches that believers ask, seek, and know so as to see, find, and gain admittance.  The primary purpose is the pursuit of God's presence but it is also a matter of perseverance in prayer.

God does not simply want us to come to Him like a vending machine: fifteen minutes of prayer for a trinket, an hour for a new car.  Instead, we are to ask Him, to seek after Him, and to knock on His door with the persistent tenacity of a loan shark.  There is a progression to the pursuit of God and we should be aware that God does not ever grow weary of our pleas for His grace and provision.  In fact He encourages that we ask in His name and remain like a branch to His vine (John 14:12-14, 15:1-17).

The other relavant passage in this regard is Luke 18:1-8, recounts the Parable of the Persistent Widow. In it, Jesus paints a picture of the value of persistent prayer and the need for consistency in pursuing God to provide for us.  God desires for us to come to Him for our provisions, for our desires, and for our cares.  But to do so in persistence.  Therefore, let us come to God like the child wanting candy in the grocery store, knowing that He does not grow weary of our badgering.  Praise be to God that He cares for us and wishes for us to come to Him for every need with a perseverance that is powerful!

The Joy of God

Mariah was a beautiful young woman when her life was forever and dramatically changed.  She had been homecoming queen in high school, president of her sorority in college, and had been working her dream job for only a matter of weeks when the accident happened.  She was on her way home from work.  A normal drive, a normal day.  Suddenly, a semi-truck, whose driver had went into cardiac arrest while driving, smashed into Mariah's vehicle and pinned her car against the railing.  Her car rolled off the highway and she was crushed under its weight.

Before the wreckage was cleared entirely, Mariah was rushed to the emergency room to undergo extensive surgery to remove the shards of metal and glass from her body, most importantly her spine.  When she awoke, she found out that she had lost the ability to move her legs; she was paralyzed from the waist down.  She would have to go through years of rehabilitation to learn how to live a new life without the use of her legs.  The beautiful and able-bodied young woman was forced to accept that her life would never be the same and that she would need a wheelchair for the remainder of her life.

During her years of therapy and rehab, though, the nurses and doctors whom Mariah had been working with witnessed a young woman who never lost her infectious smile and energetic spirit.  One day, after her session, as Mariah was preparing to leave, one of the doctors asked her a question that caught Mariah off guard, "Mariah, how do you always have so much joy?  You've been through so much and yet you always make everyone feel so happy that you're here."

Mariah turned her wheelchair toward the doctor, smiled and then answered, "Do you want to know what I do everyday?  I wake up every morning and cry to God that I don't have the strength to do it another day, and I pray that He would give me the strength I need to do it.  So when you see me smile with a joy that's overflowing, it is all God.  I ask Him to come and fill me because I am empty of any joy without His help."

If only each of us would rely on God with such dependence, remembering that only in Him alone is there any joy.  Scriptural joy is two-fold.  The first is the joy of being in God's presence which is done through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit which teaches us all things, especially the joy of His commandments and His Word (Psa. 16:11, 19:8; John 14:26, 15:9-11).  It is thus through reliance upon the Lord that we receive His joy.

The second part of the biblical concept of joy is dependent upon suffering.  In fact, Scripture says that it is through suffering that our joy is refined and made sure (Rom. 5:1-5; James 1:2).  This does not mean that we should seek trial and suffering, only that we should remember that it is through suffering that we become more dependent upon the Lord for our joy and strength.

Far from saying that suffering will be any less difficult, rather, we will understand that suffering serves eternal purposes that make us better Christians and, like the story of Mariah, better witnesses of the power of God.  Let us then look to the Lord, through the torn flesh of His Son Christ Jesus, so as to be filled with a perfect and holy, inexpressible joy!

Sanctification: Salvation Realized

Salvation begins with the repentance of self and turning to God in faith, believing in the work of Christ, who died on the cross to make the propitiation for our sins but rose again conquering the power of sin.  Now, through faith, believers are reborn to an inheritance into the family of God.  Unfortunately, many people's understanding of salvation ends there with conversion, which is a travesty because salvation is so much more. 

Not only is salvation about God applying the propitiation of Christ's atoning sacrifice to the debts of our sin by faith, called justification, but God also imputes His righteousness into our beings.  In truth, we are saved at the point of conversion, but we are continually being saved as we grow in the denial of self and God pours His Holy Spirit into our lives.

This is what sanctification is all about.  It is the continual process of salvation by which we, our very nature, is changed from our previously flesh self to our new Spirit self, and we are transferred, adopted into the heavenly family of God from the orphanage of this world.  To be sanctified, what was once unholy is made holy and what was once defiled is made clean for sacred use.

The essence of sanctification is renewal, taking something diseased and broken and renewing it to something holy and useful.  God, His Holy Spirit, is the motivator, the mover, and the facilitator of this change.  In its essence, it is a matter of worship.  As we are renewed, we grow in the likeness of Christ and we also grow in our ability to reflect God's glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

Sanctification, the process and pursuit of ever-growing holiness, is a major theme of the New Testament.  Paul in particular is consistent and focused in his exhortations to put off the old self, to pursue the new self, and to chase after righteousness with perseverance (Rom. 8:1-12; Phil. 3:12-16; Col. 3:1-17).  This should be enough to compel us to seek after God and to pursue Him in order to be sanctified.  

We need only to remember the immense value of knowing God and growing in relationship to Him.  If we do this, if we truly recognize who God is and what He is worth, it should only prompt us to desire Him more.  Additionally we should take comfort in that we are not alone in this process but we can and need to rely on God alone for our sanctification.  Let us then pursue Him so to become more like Him!

Sanctification through Suffering

We live in a world that spends exorbitant amounts of money pursuing ease and pleasure with the intention of making life seem better.  As if somehow the elusive search for happiness is reached by avoiding stress and the "right" life is defined as one in which suffering is so minimized that it can be considered to no longer exist.  A surface study into the viral growth in anti-depressant usage in America reveals a culture that is obsessed with "feeling" better.  Unfortunately, this runs in opposition to how Scripture speaks about this immensely important issue.

At the onset of this discussion, consider Jesus, who requires His followers to pick up their crosses (Matt. 16:24).  We are also called as Christians to emulate Jesus, suffering in this life with the grace and humility that He did (1 Cor. 11:1; Eph. 5:1-2).  These are not simply pithy sayings to encourage us to wear rosaries or get crosses tattoos.  Rather, this exhortation is to remind us that a Christian's lot in this life is one of joyous perseverance amidst suffering.

Consider two passages of Scripture, Romans 5:1-5 and James 1:2-4.  Both of these passages exhort believers to rejoice at the gift of trials and sufferings for it is in these times that we are being grown more like Christ Jesus.  Essentially, suffering is the breeding ground for character.  It is through perseverance that we cultivate patience, kindness, and enduring strength.  In a very real sense, Paul and James and all of the New Testament authors are quite clear in this regard, not that we should seek suffering but that we should rejoice in its usefulness for sanctification.

Nothing grows without soil, seed, tilling, nourishment, and time.  We, our very hearts, are the soil.  The Gospel, the Word of God, is the seed.  The tilling is suffering and trial.  The nourishment is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Another metaphor may illuminate this more.  Think of anaerobic exercise: muscular tissues and fibers are broken down as a result of continued resistance and the breaking down of muscular tissue allows for more blood to flow through the muscle thus spurring growth.  Suffering breaks us down but it is the breaking down itself that allows for more of Christ to flow into us.

In this regard, Peter speaks of suffering and trial as the refining of precious metals (1 Pet. 1:6-7).  Only under intense and destructive heat may the dross be separated from the gold. Similarly, only under the fires of suffering and persecution may we be refined to be more like Christ.  Therefore, we should take joy in our sufferings not because God will use them to make us more in His image.  Again, this in no way means that we should not grieve or that we should not hurt or that suffering is less painful.  Instead, we can see suffering as it is meant to be seen, namely as the soil for cultivating character.  Essential to this is the continual praise of God amidst the toil and strain.  But praise be to God that He would use suffering to grow us!

Discipleship's Cost

There is a distinct and clear cost to following Jesus.  Throughout the New Testament, the price of being a disciple of Christ is simple but stiff: everything.  Devotion to Christ requires that we lay everything down before the Lord.  This is inline with the greatest commandment, which commands us to devote every part of ourselves to the Lord in worship and devotion.

Scripture presents numerous examples of believers paying the price of discipleship.  For starters, there is Abraham.  The Lord called Abram to pick up his whole life and leave his homeland for a promise (Gen. 11:1-3).  Abram simply laid down his previous life for the promises of God.  Or consider Abraham's ordeal in regards to Isaac.  Abraham and Sarah had been barren for several decades, waiting for God to fulfill His promises of descendants.  Yet when God did finally bless the couple with Isaac, the Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice him.  And Abraham proved himself obedient to the cost of discipleship and was blessed for his faithfulness.

Another example is the calling of the disciples by Jesus (Matt. 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Lk. 5:2-11).  All of the accounts are remarkable.  Jesus simply calls the disciples to come and they, like Abram, pick up everything and follow the Lord.  They were successful self-employed business men that laid down it all to follow Jesus.  As Peter declares, "we've left everything to follow you (Lk. 14:26).

The other pertinent example of this is Saul, who becomes Paul after he lays down everything for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus.  Saul was a Hebrew of Hebrews, on the fast track to the Jewish religious elite (Phil. 3:4-6).  Saul had created a life to be envied, yet when the Lord Jesus called him, he cast it all aside.  This is the true cost: giving everything up for the sake of relationship to the Lord Almighty. Paul is quick to assert that he counts everything lost as a gain because of the immeasurable riches of gain the Lord (Phil. 3:7).

Scripture is unified in this regard.  Discipleship costs believers their very lives.  Practically speaking, believers are to take all of their lives, everything, and to devote it to the Lord.  In this, God sanctifies our past experiences, good and bad, for His purposes.  This is what is described by the concept of daily picking up your cross and denying yourself to follow Jesus (Lk. 9:23).

Ultimately, Jesus is the Suffering Servant who served the world through His very death.  If we are to be His followers, it makes logical sense that we will acquiesce to the same fate as His.  In a real way, this means that we will relinquish every part of our selves for the purposes and will of the Lord.  Truly, the cost of discipleship is high but the resulting relationship with the Lord far outweighs the cost.  Let us then press forward to live lives of servanthood that mirrors the life our Savior lived!