James, the Martyr

It's 1:33am. I had Red Amp...

Erin and I decided that we were going to study the first chapter of James this week and talk about it on Sunday. I dove in right away and absolutely loved it. James is about taking action, and I'm all about that.

The part that really caught my eye was verse 17. My version says,
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

This just really opened my eyes. God places many challenges in our lives, twisting and turning the path that we once thought was the correct one. It's so hard, but we can find so much hope in this passage. For it states that "every good and perfect gift is from above" and I think that is so awesome. Every challenge, every hardship, every break in the path is a beautiful and wonderful gift from God, and though it may be disguised in an unusual or even terrifying form, every trial in our lives has beauty within it. And the cool thing is, it's our job to discover it.

James draws a striking parallel between persevering through trials and joy. He tells us that persevering through these trials that God gives to us will lead to a maturation and completion within our relationship with God. How stinkin' awesome is that?! God throws us curve balls with the ultimate plan of allowing us to grow and maximize the joy within our hearts.

God may throw many different "gifts" our way but we can all be certain that He will never tempt us, and I guess that makes it easy for us really. James 1:13 says that, "God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone." And though it's something I've never really though about, it seems entirely straightforward to me. This verse assures us directly that any temptation we face is from the enemy and will never foster an outpouring of God's love. I feel like that seems so simple? But why is it so hard sometimes to ignore those temptations even though we know for a fact they are not glorifying God?

It must be because we're human.

God is so huge.

It's 2:07am.

Love,
Steph