Pastor Tim’s Devotional

February 1, 2021

Scripture Reading – James 1:3-4 NLT

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

This past Tuesday, Las Vegas woke up to the rare blessing of snow. When I came downstairs, I saw that one of the trees in my backyard had completely folded over under the weight of a few inches of snow. I went into my garage and found a rake and raked and beat the snow out of the tree. To my surprise it didn’t stand back up. It stayed folded over with its crown touching the ground. I tried pushing it up myself and only managed to get soaked and covered in snow. Over the last week, I’ve watched as it has ever so slowly straightened itself. Standing a few inches taller each day.

In our sermon this Sunday we spoke about the message of hope that we find in the book of Revelation. We know how the story ends, and because of this we are able to live with a sense of conviction and calm and to remain hopeful no matter what life throws at us, because we know that God has the final word. Hope gives us the ability to endure through times that can test our faith.

In our passage from James, he reminds us that adversity helps us to grow stronger spiritually. The difficult circumstances of life that our Christian hope gives us the ability to endure, are opportunities for us to grow in our faith, until in James’ words, we are “fully developed…perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

A few inches of snow revealed great weakness in the trunk of my young desert tree. It has endured and will survive, growing stronger through the process. Times of testing do the same thing for us, and James is encouraging us to see them as opportunities to grow.

I feel convicted by this reminder from James. If I am honest, my focus over the last year has been on simply enduring this trying time. James reminds us that God’s grace is always at work in our lives, using every circumstance that we face to grow us up into the

fullness of Christ.

 How might this change your perspective on the trying times we find ourselves in?

 Has this time of testing revealed any opportunities for spiritual growth?

 How might the Holy Spirit be at work in your life during this time of testing?

God Bless You

Pastor Tim