James 1:4

And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

     Endurance is key to the Christian life. Here James even tells us we need our endurance to be complete so that we might be complete. It is even the key to lacking nothing. If it is our desire to be strong Christians, we must learn self-discipline. We need the ability, strength and will power to carry on even when things get tough. In our daily walks, life gets incredibly difficult. Temptations are thrown before us, discouragement lurks at every corner, and life sometimes seems to conspire against us. When all of this happens, we need to be able to stand strong for the Lord.

     We grow discipline through two very similar ways. The first is what James talks about in the preceeding verses. Endurance comes through the trials we face. This means that we need to be joyful about any such trials. When they are thrown are way we can look at them as an oppurtunity for personal growth. We know that with any temptation, God provides a way of escape. That means that when a temptation comes before us, we have the ability to overcome it. When we overcome it, we gain strength for the next battle. And it will continue to grow, helping our endurance to become complete.

     The second method is more active where the first was reactive. Rather than waiting for a trial to come upon us, we can grow in strength by pushing ourselves. The easiest example is found in excercise. By pushing ourselves to get off the couch and work out, we can start a pattern of self-discipline. The more we do it, the more routine it becomes. The same can be said for our spiritual lives. Instead of waiting for some sort of trial or disaster to come upon us we can get off of our spiritual couch. We can look for oppurtunities to do good works. We can make the time to study God’s word and pray to Him. In doing so, it too wil become more and more routine. We just have to make ourselves do it. But the result is worth it since the man who is perfect in spiritual endurance becomes perfect and complete according to the word of God.

And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Revelation 5:13

And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, {be} blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

     In Revelation the fourth and fifth chapter, John is introduced to a throne scene. In this throne scene, the first thing that John notices is God. Then he sees the Seven Spirits, the twenty four elders, the four beasts as well as a great stone. Then the Lamb approaches, and after we see Him, we see a broader view, which includes all of the angels, myriads of them! Then finally, almost as a side note, John notices all the created beings on earth, which includes us.

     It is amazing to realize that we are on the periphery of this vision. We are not the main focus. We are just thrown in at the end as John is able to notice other things than just the throne. Think about the man or woman in time right now who you believe to be the greatest person. Think of how you and others would flock to them if they visited your town. Whereever they go, they are the center of attention. And yet in the book of Revelation, they are no more worthy of a mention than most anonymous man in history. They are lumped together with everyone else.

     All of this goes to show that we can forget our proper place in the working of things. Sometimes we feel like mankind is the center of all things. Yet in this story, they are what surround the center of all things. On days we struggle with pride we might even think ourselves to be the center of attention. And yet when we are compared with God, we truly are nothing. God is the most powerful, the most glorious, Being to ever exist. We need to remember that, because sometimes we can get those attributes confused with ourselves.

And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, {be} blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

Ephesians 3:20

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

Light switches are amazingly simple in design. Basically, electricity flows to the switch. The switch then will either connect or disconnect to the wires that go up to the light. If it is in the connect position, then the power flows freely and you have light. If, however, the wires are disconnected by the switch, the electricity is stopped. All the power is ran to there, and is at the ready just waiting to be turned on. It just needs for the switch to be flipped so it can fulfill its function.

Our spiritual lives are much like a light switch. God is a being of extreme power. In Ephesians, Paul expresses very poetically the power and glory of God. For instance the plan of salvation took an extreme amount of power to do, to establish the governments just so, as well societies working together in a certain way. Yet God was able to carry out His plan in the fullness of time.  God’s power is shown even more by the fact that He can give us forgiveness of sins. We have no power of our own to provide such forgiveness. Only God, being great in both power and mercy is able to do such a thing.

That power is there, and it is waiting for us. It is wanting to work within us. Yet it requires a very specific light switch: faith. While faith may seem small to some, it is in fact what turns on the power that God has for us to use. It is faith that causes us to follow the steps of salvation and receive the forgiveness of sins. Even after we become Christians, faith is vital. If we do not trust in the Lord, we will not obey His commandments. We will find some way to circumvent them, to rationalize away their use. Yet if we have faith in the Lord and obey His commandments, we will find that the way of holiness is open to us. Faith is the light switch that opens us up to the power of God. If we will turn it on, we will be amazed at the results that God can work through us.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

John 9:38

And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.

In John 9, we are introduced to a blind man. As Jesus comes across him, he decides that he would heal him of his affliction. So Jesus made some clay and put in the blind man’s eyes and had him wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam. After he washed his eyes out he now had the ability to see. Can you imagine what this man must have been thinking? All of the sudden he could see sunlight, trees, people, colors, buildings. In reality a whole new world was opened up to him. He had to be in amazement. It is no wonder that he spoke so forcibly against the Pharisees when they questioned him about the miracle.

After defending Jesus to the Pharisees, the Pharisees throw him out of the synagogue and Jesus approaches him. It is during this conversation that he confess belief in Jesus and worships him. What do you think he must have been saying to Jesus? It is very likely he would say something to the effect of, “How can I ever repay you?” or “I will do anything you want.” His gratitude would have been pouring forth with every word.

We have been given an even greater gift than sight. Jesus died on the cross and in doing so He gave us the gift of eternal life. Like with the blind man, He requires us to have the faith to carry out His commands in order to receive the gift. And when we do we receive the remission of sins which is the greatest gift of all. But how do we act about God’s forgiveness? Often times we are like the nine lepers who never even go back to thank Jesus (Luke 17:12-17). We barely acknowledge Him. Instead we should come back to Him and offer our undying allegiance, because there is no way we could possibly pay Him back for such an amazing gift.

And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.

Matthew 6:23

“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness

One time I was getting in my car to go to church. As I got in I looked over to my passenger seat and saw this huge spider web! It might have even said, “Some Pig”, it was so big and intricate. Unfortunately for me, I hate spiders. The freak me out a bit. So you could imagine that my fear was growing when I saw this spider web. I knew that there just had to be a spider in the care, who seems to not only have scurried in and out but also took up a permanent residence. My eyes were darting around the entire drive, looking for the spider to jump out.

It was a simple deduction for me to figure out that there was a spider in my car. I did not have to see it in order to know. The web was all the evidence that I needed. There are many similar litmus tests for us as Christians as well. Do we have to see our soul’s in order to know if is holy or godly? No. Instead we can tell by our focus, our attitudes, and our actions. With the Bible as our guide, we can see if our lives are in accordance with what God wants from us.

Using Jesus’ idea about the eye, one of the major litmus test is our eyes, or if you will the desire of our eyes. The eye here is being used in the sense of what do we set our sights on? What is our focus? Is the main thing we think about and work on to achieve riches? Or popularity? Power? Or instead do we focus on the things of God? We should be constantly looking at how we can grow closer to God, glorify His kingdom, and love our fellow man, especially Christians. If we are focused instead on worldly things, we have gknow about where our heart is, and that it is not following God as it should. But if we focus on the things of God, we have good evidence that our hearts are in the right place.

“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Genesis 3:4

     The very first time we introduced to Satan, he shows us one of his most powerful tactics. When He is discussing the fruit of the tree of knowledge and good and evil with Eve, he tries to confuse her about what God’s will really is. The lie that finally pushed her over the edge was that she would not surely die. Now Eve should have known better. She knew the commandment well enough that she could tell Satan herselve what it was. And yet she decided to listen to Satan instead.

     Satan has not stopped using that lie. It is just as powerful today as it was back then. We want to believe it to be true. We would really prefer that we could go against the Lord’s will and there be no consequences. Would it not be nice if we could fall to our desires and it not impact our eternal lives as well as our relationship with God? Since we would prefer it that way to begin with, all it takes from Satan is a gentle nudge that direction. A great example is people’s attitude toward sex these days. “Well if you love each other, I do not think God will judge you for that.” That is Satan talking, whispering in their ear what it is they desire.

      We need to be constantly on guard against this particular tactic. We have to continually watch ourselves, and our motivations. Why do we believe this? Why am I changing this view? Is it because that is what the scripture says, or because it is what I want it to say? Satan will try to sneak in, mixing half lies with the truth so that we can appease our conscience. However, it is a huge mistake to take heed to his words. The Lord keeps His word. Just as Eve recieved the punishment she was promised, if we defy the Lord’s commands, we too will receive punishment.

Galatians 3:28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I have a secret. M&M’s are a little disappointing to me. Do not get me wrong. I will eat them and even enjoy them. But they are always a bit of a let down. You open a bag and you see all these different colors. And yet they all taste exactly the same. A lot of times I will take a particular color and and eat all of them. Yet if I eat them randomly, it does not change the taste even in the slightest. Of course, part of the problem is that I am only a half-way fan of M&M’s. I wish that the variety would make me enjoy some of them more. But alas, they are always the same, no matter what they look like.

As Christians, this is an apt analogy for us. It is amazing when you look at the church to see its differences. You have men and you have women. There are all nationalities and cultures throughout. You have outgoing people.  You have shy people. You have leaders and you have followers. Some are naturally good at speaking while others may be great at working with their hands. Just looking at the writings of Paul, he acknowledges all the many different gifts and abilities found within the church. Yet we are also one. We are all the same in that we are all clothed in Christ. While what people may see and notice may be completely different, the core of us is still the same: Jesus living in us.

We need to acknowledge this common ground. So many times we want to focus on what separates us and makes us different. Those things are just superficial. They are just what we and others see on the outside. Since Christ should be our entire lives, this small superficial differences should make up only a few percentage points of who we are. What we have to realize is that because of our love and desire for Christ, what we have in common is incomparably greater than what my separate us. In the hardest times, when it is difficult to love one another, we must cling to that common ground. In reality, hating a true fellow bond-servant is actually hating ourselves.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Mark 2:14

As He passed by, He saw Levi the {son} of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

At college we would have these special banquets. At one of these banquets, in the days preceding, there was a girl-be-nice-to-guy day. My roommate and I were lucky enough to have dates that year, and they decided that they wanted to surprise us. When they met us at our dorm, they blindfolded us and then guided us to our destination. Being blindfolded was very scary. I had to trust that they would not run me into a tree or accidentally for get to tell me about a step. Luckily we made it to our destination without mishap, but there was no doubt it was scary, even though we trusted the girls who were guiding us.

When Jesus calls His disciples, He only issues a two word command. This command requires as much trust or more than our blindfolded escapade. Do you realize that Levi got up in the middle of his work day and basically quit his job in order to obey what the Lord commanded him? You know that had to be scary and a bit uncomfortable for him. Yet it was God was commanding him. So Levi had to make a decision: Did he trust God enough to obey or not?

While Jesus does not come by our workplace and ask us to quit our jobs, He does leave us the same command of “Follow Me.” In it is implied that we will give up whatever it may take to do that. It may be jobs, it be family members, financial security, free time, our favorite hobbies, or any number of things. We must be willing to give everything up for Him. Sometimes that is very scary for us. Because we cannot see what the future may hold or why we have to sacrifice such things, we can feel as if we are blindfolded. Each step is tentative, and we try to feel around us as much as possible. At the end of the day though we are faced with the same choice as the disciples. Even though we cannot see the road ahead of us, we must trust in the Lord that He will guide us safely through it if we will only follow His voice.

As He passed by, He saw Levi the {son} of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.

Hebrews 4:15

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

It is so hard to feel like nobody understands you. Even when you get the courage to tell someone about what is going on, it sometimes seems as if they can only give you blank stares. They do not know how to help or what to say. What you are going through seems foreign to them. So much so that you probably wonder if you are speaking in another language. From time to time, we feel like we are alone and that nobody knows what it is that we are going through.

As Christians, we have a special blessing in that we never have to feel that way. While there may be times where are brothers and sisters in Christ are at a loss, or may even let us down, we have someone greater than they. We have Jesus. We can go to Him at all times. This is even more encouraging than just having someone. In our day to day lives, sometimes the one person who we think would understand us is busy or gone or for whatever reason unavailable. Never so with Christ. He is always there.

Even better is to understand that the One who is always available to us truly understands and sympathizes with us. He has been through it all. There is no kind of suffering He has not had to endure. Physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and any other kind you could think of. He has felt forsaken by God (Matt. 27:46). He has been tempted in all ways. Most importantly, He loves you.  Some people may know what we are going through, but they do not care. Not so with our Lord. He loves us deeply, and He sympathizes us. In our times of deepest need, we must always turn to Him for the strength and love that we need.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.