In class, we continued our look at the book of James. The good news/bad news scenario is this...
We are going to have trials. It is an unavoidable part of our Christian walk. It is also a necessary part. We should be encouraged with the good news, though. These trials are ultimately for our benefit and we are never abandoned in them. Many of us (and by many of us, I really mean me) still resist these trials. It is a very human instinct. Even the most seasoned of Christians don't usually shout "woohoo!" when trials come. In 1 Peter 1:6-7, Peter echoes James' sentiment by saying that our faith is refined through these temporary trials, making them worth more than gold. Gold is an interesting choice for the comparison because of its particular properties.
(Just as a quick heads up, there is some science content in the next paragraph so look away if you must. It was science or baseball.)
Gold is the most malleable of any metal. It can be transformed to any shape, depending on its purity. If you were to take your jewelry and hit it with a hammer (please understand this is an illustration and not a dare) it would obviously lose its shape. but it wouldn't lose its value. That same hammer could reshape that gold into something new. If the gold has impurities, it is more likely to break and be more difficult to reshape. If you were to refine that gold and remove the impurities, it is less likely to break and easier to shape. The estimate is that an ounce of pure gold can be beaten and stretched into a 15ftx15ft square. I know I'm a nerd to even care about this, but that is extraordinary. The usefulness of gold is determined by its purity. Because gold is a soft metal, impurities are added to make it rigid and give it shape. This is the gold you find in jewelry. When its purified, it loses its shape and gains flexibility. This is the gold that is used in superconductors and circuits.
Our faith works the same way. The impurities we have allowed make our faith decorative but not functional. It looks nice and appeals to people, but what can we do with it? The trials that come our way are intended to refine our faith, not destroy it. When this happens, our faith becomes flexible - able to be applied to any circumstance or situation in our life. God can shape our purified faith into anything, can stretch it beyond what we thought was possible. Just as we don't look at our jewelry and see all the possibilities, we can't conceive of what God can do with our faith. That doesn't mean they aren't there, just that they are hidden from our view.
James also told us that through these trials, we could ask God for wisdom. This wisdom is the ability to apply God's principles to our lives. Not the knowledge to understand the trial, but the wisdom to trust God's hand at work. This wisdom allows the trial to refine us, maturing us to be what God intended us to be - more like Him.
As is always the case, there is a price to be paid. James says that God gives wisdom to anyone who asks, provided they don't doubt. In this case, James is speaking about anything other than a wholehearted devotion to God. If our loyalties are divided between what we want and what God wants, we are double-minded. That is the root of doubt. The honest truth is that each of us will experience doubt, but that is not the final say. Our defeat is not sealed with the presence of doubt. Our victory comes from the cross and the tomb. That is how God ultimately turns our trials into triumphs. That is how God uses even our doubt to let our faith shine.
Great post, John. I wish I had gotten to be there this week. One thing I will ALWAYS remember is something my 7th grade science teacher told us. He was the most amazing, godly man who could work the Lord into anything without it being obvious. We had a lesson on rocks. You know, sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic. He talked about how rocks formed under fire and pressure are strongest. I will never forget how his little lesson on rocks applied to our faith in Christ. And all that, without him even mentioning the name of God. (And for an English person to remember a science lesson, it had to be good!)
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