Reb Rev's Blog

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”  -James 1:2-3

There are a lot of folks hitting the gym for the first time in years, or maybe just for the first time ever this week. Those lovely New Year’s resolutions will drive them there for a while anyway.

Next week attendance will drop off some, then more the week after, then in a few weeks most will not be going back at all.

Why is that? Well, working out is well work – and, at times, hard work. It takes time and effort to make the progress toward being fit. Those who stay with it will see that benefit.

The verse above tells us that is true about our faith. It takes the effort of trials and struggles to grow in our trust of God. You don’t get stronger by looking at the weights, you have to pick them up. You don’t build endurance by buying running shoes, you have to run.

Our faith isn’t built by reading about others’ trials and experiences, we have to undergo the “various trials” ourselves. “Count it all joy” reminds us the results will be well worth what we go through to get there. “Patience” is the evidence to self and others of the presence and growth of faith.

This entry was posted on January 8, 2011 at 11:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.