Devotionals – Page 2

PBJ : Pastor Brian Jones

I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a teacher of His Word, Senior Pastor at Calvary Bible Church of Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti, Michigan. I am a husband and father of three.

I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Bible, as well as Master of Divinity, Master of Theology, and Doctor of Ministry degrees.

Luke 7

March 15, 2023

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Read Luke 7.

Jesus has gone public now and has been attracting more and more attention in his area. That attention continued as he performed miracles such as healing the dying (vv. 1-10) and raising the dead (vv. 11-17). His message was right but his actions were not what John the Baptist expected so when John–in prison–heard about Jesus actions, he sent some disciples of his to ask Jesus to identify himself (vv. 18-27).

After reassuring John through his disciples (vv. 21-23), Jesus began to probe what the people who followed Jesus thought of John the Baptist (vv. 24-27). After asking some probing questions to get people to think about the meaning of John’s life and ministry in verses 24-26, Jesus affirmed that John was a prophet, but he was a prophet plus more (prophet+) in verse 26b. According to Jesus in verse 27, John was, in fact, the forerunner prophesied in the Old Testament to Messiah.

But then Jesus raised the importance of John even further but with a twist. According to Jesus, John was the greatest mortal man who ever lived (v. 28a). That’s quite an assessment to make about anyone, but especially coming from Jesus. But then Jesus said something even more intriguing: “…yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he [John].” The most insignificant person who arrives in God’s kingdom is greater than the greatest man whoever lived in human history, according to Jesus. Why is that true?

The answer is that John–great as he was–was a sinner but the “least in the kingdom of heaven” is not a sinner. Sinners are not allowed into the kingdom of heaven, so there are no sinners there. Consequently everyone who is there is a better person than John.

The Kingdom of God must be an empty place, then, because I and everyone I know is a sinner.

That’s where Jesus comes in and why he came into the world. Jesus the man lived the sinless life that would qualify a person to enter the kingdom of God. He was able to do that as a man because he was also God. As God, he didn’t need to earn his way into the kingdom of God; it already belongs to him. So, in the great act theologians call imputation, God gave sinners access to his kingdom based on the perfect life of Christ. He imputed–credited–Christ’s righteousness to those who believe him for it.

On the opposite side of that coin, he also credited to Jesus the guilt for human sin which Jesus paid for through his death on the cross. For those who believe this message, God imputes your guilt to Christ who paid it in full and imputes Christ’s righteousness to you. That’s how you get into the kingdom of God. When you get there, God will transform you completely so that you never want to or will sin again. Thus, you will be a better human being than John the Baptist, the greatest man who ever lived.

This is an important truth for our salvation. It is one that everyone must humble himself to believe. Even the most morally upright person must admit his sin and need of salvation. But many people are too proud for that so Luke told us in verse 29 that those who knew they were sinners were getting into the kingdom while those who were really religious, according to verse 30, were missing out on what God has done.

Don’t let that be you! Don’t let your pride keep you from an eternity in God’s presence and in his kingdom.

Also, know that if you have trusted Christ, God treats you as perfect now, even though you aren’t yet. God treats you as better than John the Baptist already because he gives you credit for Christ’s perfection.

So don’t let your sins and failures discourage you. Keep growing in your faith and trusting God to change you and know that God is not counting those sins against you any more. You’re on his side now because of Jesus, so you can feel secure and forgiven while you grow to become like him.

Luke 6

March 14, 2023

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Read Luke 6.

On the seventh day of the creation week the Bible tells us that God rested. This means that he ceased from the act of creating. It was unnecessary for him to “rest” in the sense of recovering and renewing his energy and strength because he is all-powerful. But he set aside a day to cease from labor and even set that day apart to teach us to rest.

Rest is about renewing yourself and spiritual renewal through worship is a key part of resting. By the time Jesus lived, however, the Sabbath had become more about what was forbidden than about the blessing of taking time off to rest your body and renew your spirit. That’s what Jesus faced here in Luke 6. The Pharisees were so legalistic about the Sabbath that they didn’t want anyone to do much of anything; even picking up a snack off the grain fields was sin in their minds (vv. 1-2). Likewise, they were miffed when Jesus healed a man.

The Pharisees, and everyone else who knew this man, should have been happy for him. He recovered the use of one of the most useful parts of his body. What better day to be renewed from an injury or a disability than the Sabbath–a day God set aside for renewal?

As Jesus answered the objections of the legalists about the Sabbath, he both asserted his authority over the Sabbath day (v. 5) and reminded the people that the Sabbath is supposed to be about what is good not about putting people in bondage (v. 9).

But the Pharisees measured a person’s spirituality based on how well he kept a long list of manmade rules, so Jesus’ actions on the Sabbath threatened their approach to spirituality.

This is an important thing to keep in mind whenever you encounter someone who thinks that pleasing God is about some manmade rule to measure spirituality. Who is more spiritual–a person who reads one verse a day or someone who reads one book of the Bible per day?

If we measure by the sheer volume of material, the one who reads a whole book of the Bible each day is the truly spiritual person. But remember from James 1:22 that the person who merely reads the Bible without applying it is self-deceived.

One verse of Scripture that is truly considered and applied by a believer is far better than one book of the Bible read only to impress yourself, God, or someone else with how spiritual you are.

God wants us to keep his commands but not so that we can impress others or oppress them by pointing out their failures or sub-standard performance compared to us. God does not give us his commands to judge our performance; he gives his commands to transform us.

Whenever we judge others for their lack of performance, we are indicting ourselves as legalists. Don’t measure your walk with God by performance metrics; seek to walk with God, putting his words into practice out of love for him and a desire to grow (see verses 46-49 here in Luke 6).

Luke 5

March 13, 2023

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Read Luke 5.

Anyone who watches us closely enough and critically enough will be able to detect at least some of our sins. We don’t spend all our time sinning but the desire to sin never goes away fully and, with the right circumstances and stimulus, our corrupted human nature is ready to pounce like a cat on the red dot of a laser pointer.

Yet, despite how thoroughly sin inhabits us, we live our lives mostly oblivious to our own sins, failures, and weaknesses. If you’ve ever had someone confront you for sinning against them and you didn’t realize or think about what you had done as sinful until they brought it up, you understand what I mean. We are well aware, usually, of the sins of others but often quite blind to our own.

It is interesting, isn’t it, the when Isaiah saw his vision of the Lord and his holiness in Isaiah 6, he became acutely aware of his own sinfulness. The same type of thing happened to Peter here in Luke 5:8. But neither Isaiah nor Peter was confronted directly by God about his sin. Isaiah saw the Lord on a throne highly exalted with angels calling “holy, holy, holy.” Peter saw Jesus miraculously fill his nets with fish. They did not hear a list of God’s moral attributes or a lecture about their own sins; they saw God’s power in action. That was enough to make them aware of their own sinfulness. Peter even begged Jesus to leave him alone (v. 8) because he recognized that the power of God was at work in Jesus (v. 9).

Fortunately for Peter, Jesus already knew how sinful Peter was and loved him anyway. Jesus even called Peter to follow him (v. 10b) and learn how to “fish for people.” Jesus did this not because Peter’s sins weren’t as bad as he said or that he was confident the Peter would grow out of them. Jesus did it because the same divine power that brought the fish to the net would redeem Peter from his sins and change him to become someone who could serve God well.

The same goes for you and me. Jesus came looking for sinners to redeem so that he could transform us into holy men and women of God. So, let’s follow him and let him transform our lives.

Luke 4

March 10, 2023

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Read Luke 4.

Before Jesus began his public ministry in verse 14, it was appropriate for him to win a private victory. Specifically, in order to preach righteousness to others, Jesus, as a man, had to practice righteousness first himself. That is one reason for his temptation in the wilderness in verses 1-13.

Although Jesus was fully human, his virgin conception kept him from receiving a fallen nature like the rest of us humans have. He did not have any inward pull toward sin like you and I have.

Therefore, Satan had to get creative in tempting him. First, Satan tempted him with food when he had been fasting (vv. 2-3). There is nothing sinful about eating food, so the temptation focused on Jesus using his divine power to create food. Again, there is nothing wrong with that; he used his divine power to create food when he fed the 5000. So this first temptation is hard to figure out; what exactly was the sin that Satan was trying to get Jesus to commit?

The answer is revealed in Jesus’ response to Satan in verse 4, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 and the context for that passage was how God provided manna for his people in the desert. In Deuteronomy 8:1 Moses instructed the people to “Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.” In other words, receiving God’s promises was tied to obeying his commands. In Deuteronomy 8:2-3 Moses said, “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” This was all a reminder to Israel that the most important thing they needed to do was obey God. If people obey God’s word, they do so because they are trusting God–trusting him to keep his promises and to provide what they need. Moses was reminding the people in Deuteronomy 8:1-3 that God provided for them in the desert so they should obey his word and trust him to care for and provide for them in the future.

Back to Jesus, then, and Luke 4.

Luke 4:1 told us that Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit” and that he “was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.” It was God’s will, then, for him to be there. He was sent there by divine appointment without any preparation. The desert is not a place where food grows naturally so if Jesus were to survive his time out there, God would have to provide for him.

The devil’s temptation, then, subtly suggests that God the Father and the Holy Spirit had abandoned him. So, Satan suggested, Jesus should use his powers as the Son of God to provide for himself. Jesus’ reply was that obedience was more necessary for human flourishing than food and that if he obeyed and waited, God would provide for him.

The temptation to sin, then, was a temptation to operate outside of submission to God the father and act independently of his own will.

This is what we do, really, every time we sin. When we sin, we believe the lie spoken by our sin natures, the devil, and the world around us. That lie is that obedience to God’s way is stupid because we can’t trust God to keep his promises, so we need to seek our own gain, our own pleasure, our own solutions to the problems in our lives, or whatever else.

So, where are you facing this kind of temptation today? Has God left you waiting somewhere, longing for something that you think he should have provided by now?

Don’t turn away from obedience for the false promise of sin. Just as Jesus resisted abusing his divine power by exercising it out of God’s will, live within God’s moral will yourself through obedience and wait for him to deliver and provide for you.

Luke 3

March 9, 2023

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Read Luke 3.

Luke chapter 3 begins with some historical context. It told us that John the Baptist began his ministry during “the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar” (v. 1). Then it goes on to list some other leaders. These leaders can be classified this way. When John’s ministry began there was:

One world leader: Tiberius Caesar (v. 1a).

Four regional leaders:

Pontius Pilate of Judea
Herod of Galilee
Philip
Lysanias

Two religious leaders:

Annas
Caiaphas

Luke’s purpose in listing these men was to establish the life and ministry of John, and then, of course, Jesus, in human history.

But Luke may have had another purpose in mind when he listed these leaders. Despite the many layers of government and religious authorities over God’s people, God’s word did not come to any of them. Instead, verse 2 says, “the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” And that message was to get ready because “the Lord” is coming (v. 4).

When God began his kingdom program, he did not give his word to the politically powerful or even the religiously significant. Instead, he began speaking to a man out in the desert. Through him and through Jesus Christ, who did most of his preaching in small towns outside of Jerusalem (and Rome), God began to send his “salvation” (v. 6).

Does God need a President of the United States? Does he need a majority in the two houses of congress? Is his will subject to which legal ideology controls the court system?

No. In fact, God’s ways and will are done outside of human politics and inside of human hearts (vv. 7-8) through the power of his word (v. 2).

There is value in voting and in using politics to communicate what is righteous and sinful and to preserve whatever freedoms we can. But government cannot make people love God or find God’s love, righteousness, and forgiveness in Christ. Only the gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can do that. Put your faith there, not in politicians. Put more energy into the spread of God’s word than in the election of a candidate or in getting legislation passed.

Luke 2

March 8, 2023

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Read Luke 2.

Joseph and Mary each received a dramatic, miraculous announcement about the conception of Jesus. They had angels celebrating his birth and shepherds and wise men showing up out of nowhere to see him. When they took him to the temple for the rite of circumcision, two people appeared to thank God for Jesus and prophesy about him. Although Luke did not record it, Matthew told us that Joseph and Mary received divine guidance to protect Jesus from the murderous intentions of Herod the Great.

So their family life started off very dramatically, to say the least. God was working through them and for them like he never had before for anyone. No wonder “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (v. 19) and “his mother treasured all these things in her heart” (v. 51).

Those statements about Mary were not at all the point of Luke 2, of course. The point of this chapter is to record the birth of Jesus and all the signs that affirmed God’s plan and God’s word about him.

But these two statements about Mary cast light on an important side truth: remember to remember God’s work in your life. Walking by faith is often difficult.

Mary and Joseph experienced this as people whispered about her pregnancy. Simeon prophesied that the days ahead would be painful, too, when he told Mary, “a sword will pierce your own soul too” in verse 35.

One thing that gets us through the hard days in our walk with God is remembering God’s work in the past. God’s work does not–will not–be miraculous and dramatic for you like it was for Joseph and Mary. But God’s answers to prayer, his leading in your life through providence, the encouragement of other believers just at the right time are just a few examples of God’s work in your life. Treasure them up in your heart as Mary did! Remember them and tell your kids and your friends about them. They will help you keep walking by faith in the dark days of the Christian life.

Luke 1

March 7, 2023

Read Luke 1.

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Zechariah and Elizabeth were quite a couple. Verse 6 told us that they “were righteous in the sight of God.” In other words, they were both people who did right, who loved what was right. The next phrase in verse 6 modified the description of their righteousness when it said, “observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.” Their religion was not for show; it came from careful, diligent hearts.

If you were the Lord, these are the kinds of people you’d want to be parents in Israel. Since they were righteous themselves and kept the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly, they would certainly instruct their children in God’s word and show them what it looked like to live a righteous life.

Yet verse 7 says, “But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.” They never had the opportunity to be parents and their advanced age meant they’d given up on the dream of having children long before (see 18). I wonder how often each of them prayed, asking God for a child and wondering why he would give children to all their neighbors and extended family members, but not to them.

The answer is that God DID want them to have a child–one very important, unique child: John the Baptist.

His conception and birth were precious gifts of God to this couple. But God’s purpose was not just for them to have the joy of becoming parents. In addition to that, Elizabeth’s conception was a precious gift to all of God’s people for the work that he would do for the Lord (vv. 16-17).

Zechariah and Elizabeth may have wanted many children but the one and only son they did get was exactly the kind of child they would have wanted. Their faith and their patience was ultimately rewarded by God.

How often do we give up praying and asking God for good, righteous things because we don’t believe God will give them to us?

Even if what we want and pray for is not God’s will for us ultimately, isn’t it glorifying to him that we want and pray for the salvation of someone we love?

Isn’t it honoring to God when we pray for any request from godly motives, even if God does not seem to want to grant it?

God’s ways often make very little sense to us but they make perfect sense to him, especially when viewed from his eternal and perfect perspective.

So trust him, even when you pray for years with no change. God is doing something so trust him to use you and your life in the appropriate place at his appropriate time.

James 5

March 6, 2023

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Read James 5.

We live in a free society. Freedom makes it possible to make a living and even become wealthy through innovation, making quality products and/or delivering quality service. A business owner usually will employ other people but he or she must pay them wages that both the owner and the worker have agreed are fair. If a business owner refuses to pay wages in our society, employees have several ways to seek justice.

When James was writing this chapter, however, workers were much more vulnerable to exploitation. Owners could enslave others or cheat workers out of their wages. James 5:1-6 condemns the wealthy who made their wealth by cheating others.

Notice, though, that James speaks as if the judgment of these wealthy people has already happened. Verse 1 says they should “weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.” Verse 2 says, “Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.” This description of coming judgment continued in the rest of the verses in the present tense, as if it were already happening.

But verse 7 reveals to us that the judgment described in verses 1-6 hadn’t happened yet but would happen when Jesus returns. Verse 7 says, “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.” The implication is that if these believers were being exploited by others, they should look to God in faith because he will settle in justice at the coming of Christ. The patience James counsels us to have is compared in the rest of verse 7 to the kind of paticence a farmer must have while he waits for his crops to grow. The point is that we must trust God–and keep trusting him–until he returns just like a farmer keeps trusting that the crops will grow and ripen.

Are you discouraged because someone has wronged you? The Bible repeatedly tells us not to seek revenge but to trust the Lord to make things right. Sometimes he uses repentance and restoration to make things right (see verse 19-20). But in many cases, we have to wait for the judgment day for justice to come.

Whether we are rich or poor, owner or worker, we need to remember that at the end of this age we will stand before Christ in judgment. If we’re in Christ by faith we will escape the eternal judgment of hell by his grace and through his death on the cross for us.

But all of us will answer to God for everything we do, think, and say. Because we love God we want God to be pleased with our lives. The coming judgment of God should motivate us to make godly, righteous choices while in this life so that we will be rewarded in the next life.

Do you have any unreconciled relationships? Any sins you should confess to someone you’ve wronged (v. 20)? You and I will answer to God for everything we’ve done with our lives. Isn’t it best to do the righteous thing in this life now, even if it is hard and wounds our pride?

Let the coming interview you will have with the Lord guide what you do today, what you say today, and how you treat others today. Let the coming of Christ guide you toward a righteous life for his glory.

James 4

March 3, 2023

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Read James 4.

Do you tend to focus on the past or think about the future? Thinking about the past can be good thing if the good stuff in our past causes us to be thankful for people and opportunities and memories that God has allowed into our lives. Reflecting sometimes on the bad stuff in our past can be good, too, if we think about lessons we’ve learned from it rather than focusing on the hurt or shame or whatever other negative consequences came.

Focusing too much on the past, however, can be unhealthy. The past cannot be changed so the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” that sometimes accompanies thinking about the past only makes you feel bad in the present. Likewise, if you think your best days are behind you and think about the good times too much, it can take away your motivation to use the time you have today.

So, while some thinking about the past can be helpful, it is usually best to focus on the present and the future. Verse 13-17 here in James 4 give us some guidance in that area. Verse 13 raises the issue of the future and how we tend to make plans for the future optimistically. When we make plans for the future we often assume that the future will be exactly as we envision it with very little thought about what might disrupt our plans. Verse 15 reminds us, however, that we can’t be certain about what will happen tomorrow. The reason is that we are finite; someday our days will come to an end. Somewhere someone driving to work this morning was thinking about closing a big deal that would pay a large commission. That person was counting the money in his or her mind and what could be done with it once the check was safely cashed. Maybe that person had fun plans for the weekend, too, so they were smiling about the prospects for today and tomorrow. But that person’s life was cut short by a traffic accident or a heart attack or some other emergency that landed them in the hospital or at the bedside of someone they loved. We make plans quite naturally, but we cannot control the variables.

James does not discourage us from planning or looking forward to events in the future. Instead, according to verse 15, he encouraged us to remember that God’s will is bigger than our will and that His will may disrupt the plans we have for ourselves in the future. His command to us, then, is to plan while also submitting our plans to the sovereign will of God. This saves us from arrogance (v. 16); it also prepares us not to be overly disappointed when “life happens” and interrupts our plans.

Maybe you’re dealing with an unplanned setback in your life and struggling with the disappointment that quite naturally flows from a setback. Can you believe that God has a will for your life that is bigger than your plans? Do you trust that setbacks he allows in your life are for your good–to make you holy, to teach you to trust him, to prepare you to do good rather than living for yourself (see v. 17)? If you face an interrupted plan soon, remember this truth about God and his good will for your life. Finally, whenever you make plans, remember that God may have something else in mind for you. Some Christians actually add the phrase, “If the Lord wills…” to the things that they say about the future. There is nothing wrong with that but that’s not the point of James instruction in verse 15. Instead, James wants us to remember to submit our plans to the good will of God. If he disposes of our plans, then we hope in him. If he allows them to happen, then we thank him. This is the attitude God calls us to take into our daily lives because it is an attitude and an approach to life that glorifies him.

So…., got any plans for the weekend?

James 3

March 2, 2023

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Read James 3.

This chapter in scripture tackles one of the hardest sins to overcome which is the sinful use of words. James himself acknowledged how hard it is to control what we say in verse 2 where he wrote, “We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check” and in verse 8 where he wrote, “but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

This passage exists to explain James’ statement in verse 1, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” That verse told us that teachers will be held to greater accountability by God for how we live our lives. It warns anyone thinking about teaching about the extra layer of accountability God will hold teachers to. Verse 2 gives one of the major ways in which God will evaluate our lives and our teaching. If we teach God’s truth but don’t have a tamed-tongue, we will answer to God for that.

The reason that words are brought up in this context is that what someone says reflects what is in his heart. Jesus said that in Luke 6:45. So if God changes hearts which then changes lives, how a person speaks to other people is one of the clearest evidences of that status of that person’s growth in the Christian life as we see here James 3:2. Verses 3-6 describe how very large things (horses in verse 3, ships in verse 4) can be controlled by something very small. Likewise, the tongue is very small but has power to do great damage (vv. 5-6). Despite humanity’s ability to tame all kinds of animals, no man or woman has the power to tame the tongue (vv. 7-8); only God can do that (v.v 13-18).

We’ve all been hurt by the words of others and each of us has hurt others with things that we’ve said. Let’s not dwell on that today; instead, let’s focus on this thought in verse 18: “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” This verse is connected to the idea of the power of the tongue. When God’s truth makes us wise (vv. 13, 17), we seek to become peacemakers with our words.

Who in your life do you need to speak to in order to make peace, as God wants? Or, are there some conflicts between others in your life that you can use God’s wisdom and good words to help solve? These are good ways to put today’s truth into practice in your life today.

James 2

March 1, 2023

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Read James 2.

James 2 is a chapter about favoritism. Verses 1-13 speak to the issue of favoritism directly; verses 14-25 speak more generally about the need for a faith that works. Verses 14-25, of course, can stand on their own and contribute quite a bit to our understanding of faith and works, but in context they are related to the issue of favoritism.

Favoritism is a very natural human attitude. It is impossible for you to be friends with everyone you ever meet in your life but you need friends, so your mind will inevitably apply some kind of filter to the people you meet to separate those who look like they are worth being friends with from those who don’t look like they are worthy of your friendship.

But verse 1 confronts our natural human tendency directly and commands us not to show favoritism toward others. Verses 2-3 give a hypothetical example of the kind of favoritism that believers in their era could be tempted to show. We give the best treatment to someone who comes to church looking wealthy and important while disrespecting someone who looks poor. Verse 4 exposes why we do this so naturally, “have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” Verses 5-7 explain why this kind of favoritism is ungodly (as in “un-God-like”) and verses 8-11 remind us that God’s word commands us to love others–including the unlovely.

Think about some ways in which we as God’s people can be more loving in how we treat those who come to worship with us. This is one way in which we evidence our faith by our works (v. 18).

James 1

February 28, 2023

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Read James 1.

James says so much in such a few verses. He moves swiftly from one topic to another and it is sometimes difficult to see whether the topics he writes about are supposed to be related in some way or not.

His opening words in verse 1, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,” are provocative. Most people do not get joy from different kinds of trials. We do not perceive it as a reason to rejoice nor do we rejoice instinctively when life gets hard.

That’s why James commands us to “consider it pure joy.” It is an act of deliberate mental choice; instead of instinctively getting sad or angry when we face trials, James tells us to consciously choose to consider our trials something to rejoice over.

Why?

Verse 2 says “because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” Since verse 1 called these “trials of many kinds,” we know that James is not only writing about persecution but, in addition to persecution, he means any problem in life that offers a choice between faith and unbelief. It might be spiritual, physical, financial, relational, intellectual, or whatever; if it is something that would usually make someone question God and why they trust in him, that is a trial like the one James is discussing.

And why should we consider the trials of our faith to be “pure joy?” Because, verse 3b says that “the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” In other words, things that do not wreck our faith only make it stronger.

When we face trials, then, we should rejoice because God is growing us. He is strengthening our faith so that we learn to trust and love Christ more and become better equipped to serve him on the other side of the trial. The end of all this perseverance through trials is “that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (v. 4b). God places us through trials to compete us spiritually and morally.

In those moments where faith is called for, God is building us, refining us, making us more like Christ and more effective for him. Whatever trial you find yourself in today, learn to thank God for it. When it comes to mind, thank God for what he is teaching you. When you are looking for the easy way out, thank God for how he is completing you as a Christian. When your faith in God’s character is shaking, thank God for the trial and don’t give up your faith!