ALLOW PATIENCE
TO HAVE HER PERFECT WORK !
Knowing this,
that the trying of your faith
worketh patience.
But LET patience have her PERFECT work,
that ye may be
perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.
James 1:3-4
Endurance with joy … or at least with obedience… will DO something for us, if we walk through our trial in the Companionship of The LORD JESUS CHRIST.
HE+
suffered on the Cross for people who did not love HIM+ …. yet. HE+
suffered mocking and scourging and rejection for people who did not know
HIM+ … yet.
PATIENCE will take us through such trials of our bodies and hearts also.
He+
made HIMSELF+ of no reputation. NONE! HE+ was the humblest of men,
taking upon HIMSELF+ the form of a servant and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as a man, HE+ humbled HIMSELF+.
PATIENCE will lead us down the path of humbleness also, especially if we embrace that path as “from The LORD.”
And became OBEDIENT unto death, even the death of the Cross.
Can we humble ourselves in our trials and hateful tasks yoked upon us … in order to join HIM+ on the Cross ?
SOME of our hateful and hard situations we find ourselves in, we have simply brought on ourselves.
We have clamored for THAT mate, THAT house, THAT job, or THAT
car. We have been sad and depressed when our longing has been denied.
We yearn so DEEPLY for “THAT” special mate or “THAT” special position
or thing. Just to make us happy. Just to fulfill our lives, yes ?
But,
throughout our impatient years, the LORD has blocked our desire. Still,
we continue to nag and refuse to be content with the lowly,
Self-effacing path HE+ has ordained for us.
Finally …
The LORD steps aside and allows us to obtain “THAT” — whatever it is. Unfortunately, it takes only a very short time to discover the Truth:
All along, Our LORD has been saving us
from tremendous heart-ache,
saving us from tremendous burdens,
or saving us from a deeper sorrow
than our hearts had ever known.
And now, there is no turning back. We chose our mate, that position, that house. The bill for sowing to our yearnings is coming due. Our burdens and heart-aches are increasing exponentially.
How do we survive ?
We
humble ourselves to CHRIST JESUS. We admit and confess that our
hard-headedness and Self-will has procured for us this awful situation.
Then we repent.
HE+ tried to warn us not to go in that direction. HE+
tried to re-direct our will to JOIN HIS+ WILL… but we could not abide
doing that. So now, with the distress sitting in our lap and growing
bigger daily, we see the error of our Self-centered life and we REPENT.
We cry to HIM+ for forgiveness, for leaving the path of fruitfulness. Our hands are so full of the distressing situation that we now are VERY LIMITED in what we can do for the Kingdom of GOD. HE+ knew it all along; now WE see it as well.
Our
next step is to ENDURE and walk in a companionship with Our LORD
through the mess of our lives that we have created ourselves.
For some, after patience has had its perfecting and corrective work done in us,
HE+ will provide a way of escape. HE+ will speak to our hearts about
this and hopefully, by the hard lesson we have had forced upon us, we
will WAIT and LISTEN for His+ re-direction of our lives… and GO when HE+
says “Go” and “Stay” when HE+ says STAY.
For
others, there will be no escape and they are left to carry the sole
responsibility with the unwanted child to raise … the hurt of an
unfaithful mate … the straight-jacket of an over-whelming debt locked
into a neighborhood where there are NO friends and instead, is infested
with spiritual enemies who are destroying our children … or the
never-ending responsibility of a handicapped parent (child, spouse, or
sibling) to care for.
Sadly, these burdens take the IMpatient ones totally off the work The LORD had originally chosen them for to further His+ Kingdom.
But wait !
There is hope
for our life, even though the heavy issues are not resolved. THIS
TIME… we do EVERYTHING to walk in that straight and narrow path that
leads unto Life.
The LORD JESUS never abandons His+ sheep if we want HIM+ to rule our lives. HE+ never abandons us … if and when we repent and return unto HIM+.
Thus, we are admonished by the Apostle James to “allow PATIENCE to have her perfect work ” in us.
We will see, then,
HIS+ Great Patience
with us !
Walking
hand-in-hand with The LORD JESUS CHRIST through sorrow, we will receive
correction and perfection. Made mature, we will NEVER follow our own
devices and yearnings again.
We will learn to allow the LORD to bring into our lives
the people and things and WORK which HE+ wants us to have as friends,
mates, abodes, and labors. We will learn to chase after NOTHING in our
heart and in our flesh.
Then,
when HE+ brings people, places, and work to us, it will be ordained by
The LORD for our happiness and Self-worth, as we lose ourselves in His+
Perfect Will.
Yes,
let us allow PATIENCE to have her perfect work in us. We will NEVER,
EVER regret it… like we do from those regrets accrued by NOT allowing
PATIENCE to bring us to maturity in CHRIST.
+ + +
