Skip to main content

Enduring the Journey

James 1:4 

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” 

Recently I had someone tell me that I take too many shortcuts. Because of pride, it’s always uncomfortable for me to accept criticism, especially related to something I wasn’t even aware of. This comment put me in a state of reflection: it made me realise that throughout this year, I’ve been trying to take too many shortcuts. Cutting corners, looking for the easier way out, they’re all mental movements to escape the journey that God was putting me through. In a culture of instant dopamine, we’ve adopted the mindset that everything should be granted to us immediately, however I think God calls us to wait a little longer, because in our wait He may be trying to teach us something much more valuable. 

Closely reading the verse, we see that “perseverance” is a work. Like with anything work related, there is a start point and end point. Though perseverance is an on-going process, and may feel like it’s never going to end, it will. We don’t serve a hopeless God, but rather a God that facilitates things to look forward to.  

The verse says that through the “work” of “perseverance” we “may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”. What does this mean? How can we be mature through persevering? I think through perseverance we build a resilience and trust towards God, that couldn’t be substituted if we had got what we prayed for instantly. Sometimes the very thing that we desire might be the very deterrent of our character. Our desires aren’t inherently bad, but if we got them as soon as we asked, would we have the same gratitude to God? How much more authentic would our faith be if we waited so long that we know it could’ve only been God?  

Another reason why we may have to endure is that our character may not match the desire that we want, and sometimes God may want to prepare us for the very same thing we have prayed for. Whether you are waiting for a job or a house, or patiently trusting for a spouse, God is calling you to endure.  

One thing I am starting to realise is that as much as God is Lord, He is still a father. He pays attention to his children’s wants, and as long as they align with his will, He will grant them. However, the timeframe at which he grants them isn’t promised, and it’s our job to trust in His timing. 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. David KobiaJuly 6, 2025 at 2:00 AM

    Very true. As Christians, we miss God given opportunities of spiritual maturation and growth due to not trusting God’s timing. You touched light on this very well🙏

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Being intentional with Joy

James 1: 2   “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds”   Have you ever not been in a good mood? Have you ever felt like things are just not going your way? If you answered yes to any of those questions, it shows that you are human. Problems occur and things happen that can make us upset, and that is an unfortunate reality we have to face in this world .   For me, one of my resolutions this year is to be more joyful. If I had to make a book about the year of 2024, the title of it would be “ A sequence of difficulties” . In my life, it seemed I was experiencing problem after problem and issue after issue. I couldn’t escape them. The bitter truth is that problems and issues are inevitable, but our attitude towards them isn’t .   At th at time, I was angry at God for allowing all those things to happen to me, but in retrospect I can be grateful to see the work God was doing inside of me, the resilience he was building, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dealing with Fear

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”  Fear is a universal emotion we all feel.  It comes in different formats, affects different people differently and is an unavoidable aspect of life.  For me, as I’ve progressed in my relationship with God, fear has been the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with.  Whether it was certain dreams, visions or the enemy trying to play with my mind: they were all spiritual attacks.  You may not deal with spiritual attacks, and maybe your fear is embedded of people’s perception of you.  Maybe you have fear of rejection, or fear of failure, nevertheless we should all identify our fear, but let us not make it our identity.  Don’t hold your fear hostage, set it free by allowing Jesus to use his keys of comfort.  Looking at the verse, once we have given our lives to Jesus and have accepted him as our lord and saviour, w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Equipping ourselves

Ephesians 6:13   “ Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand”   Recently I had a conversation with one of my friends. Before our interaction, I didn’t set any expectation other than simply just seeing how they were doing. To my surprise, my friend asked me a question: and what was just a simple question, felt like an opportunity for me to express my faith. If I had not already had a foundation of God’s word, it would have been a missed opportunity. We are all presented with opportunities, some we may not be aware of, others we may not feel comftable in expressing, but all of them we need to be equipped for.    Our faith and belief are counter-cultural: it doesn’t agree with the views of today and goes against the perspectives and viewpoints of the society we live in.  As long as you claim to be a Christian, there will be people that dis...
Post a Comment
Read more