Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing —James 1:4
Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.
Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.
We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work . . . .” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.
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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord
Today there were many songs that speak to the lesson. I’ll add at least one more at the end.
But the message we seem to be hearing is that directed self effort is not the way to eliminate our character faults or sins. We’ve got lots of experience with those self improvement methods with marginal results. It’s true … a diet or exercise program rigidly adhered to, even with gritted teeth, has some value and will generate some change. Olympians do huge amounts of it with tremendous results.
1 Timothy 4:8(NLT) “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”
So what is the difference between training for physical events and measurements and “training for godliness?”
Good question. Confusing the methods for each has led to much pain and disillusion over the centuries. Physical training can be measured and quantified and checked off a list. Training in Godliness cannot because everyone has a customized program. The way you engage in training for Godliness is to connect with me, stay tuned, stay curious, stay expectant and stay ready. Then jump into obedience to whatever you hear or see that We, Father, Holy Spirit and I want to be accomplishing in any situation. You can’t distill that to a checklist of religious activity. You can only distill it to those characteristics, curiosity, expectancy, and readiness to obey. Then just live out of what comes your way. It will be totally customized, just for you and unlike anyone else on the planet.
Here’s another song that goes with the message today
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