James 1:4 “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
When we endure our trials as God intends, this rounds out or faith making us a complete being in Christ. Our completeness is recognized by three characteristics (we gain these by endurance):
The last part of verse 4 says “wanting nothing.” If I asked you to make a list of everything you wanted, how long would it take? What if you were in a situation where you wanted nothing? What would it feel like to be content, having everything you ever wanted? Our God is a generous God. He will make sure all our needs are met and will fulfill our desires – just not in our timing. It will be in his. Over time we may realize that we don’t want everything we might have wanted at one time in our lives. We might gain things that we never thought we’d have. In God’s time, we should be completely satisfied.
James could have written to the persecuted Christians in a completely different way. He could have told them to turn their backs on God and wallow in in self-pity. James was an influential man and could have said anything he wanted. This was all a matter of his attitude. We don’t get to pick and choose our situations but we can decide how we react to them. You can do this one of two ways. You can either:
When we endure our trials as God intends, this rounds out or faith making us a complete being in Christ. Our completeness is recognized by three characteristics (we gain these by endurance):
- Maturity (Perfect): seasoned. Fit for the tasks God sends us to do. It is a quality based on the knowledge we have gained from those experiences. This does not relate to age. If you’re 40 and still making the same mistakes as you did in your 20’s, you haven’t learned anything, therefore you aren’t maturing. Maturity and experience are two different things. Experience is when we recognize a mistake when we make it again. Maturity is realizing the mistake before we make it again. Maturity makes time.
- Complete (Entire): Fully trained. To become complete means that we have become mature in many areas of life. God doesn’t want cheap substitutes. He want’s thoroughly developed Christians.
- Lacking Nothing: Mirroring Christ himself. Life skills are developed and ready to use. This is knowing that God has what we need, when we need it. Fully believing in God’s faithfulness.
- Depth of Character: Romans 5:3-5
- Enables us to comfort and encourage others: I Corinthians 1:3-5
- Increases dependence on God for wisdom: James 1:5; 3:17-18
- Encourages us to lead a productive and effective life: 2 Peter 1:5-9
- Helps us to identify with Christ: Matthew 4:1-11; Hebrews 5:7-10
- Shows us to focus on our future hope in Christ: Romans 8:18-24
The last part of verse 4 says “wanting nothing.” If I asked you to make a list of everything you wanted, how long would it take? What if you were in a situation where you wanted nothing? What would it feel like to be content, having everything you ever wanted? Our God is a generous God. He will make sure all our needs are met and will fulfill our desires – just not in our timing. It will be in his. Over time we may realize that we don’t want everything we might have wanted at one time in our lives. We might gain things that we never thought we’d have. In God’s time, we should be completely satisfied.
James could have written to the persecuted Christians in a completely different way. He could have told them to turn their backs on God and wallow in in self-pity. James was an influential man and could have said anything he wanted. This was all a matter of his attitude. We don’t get to pick and choose our situations but we can decide how we react to them. You can do this one of two ways. You can either:
- Become bitter and mean spirited
- See the trials as strengthening your faith
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