Perfection

James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” When we go through life, we face a mountain of challenges to our faith and to our Christian walk. James tells us to count it joy when we face trials, but that is a difficult task for a lot of us. We always seem to be short-sighted in this life. It is something that I have struggled with personally, but it helps to know that many others do as well.

James tells us that through testing, we become steadfast. In much the same way, when a piece of iron goes into the flame, it becomes hotter and more malleable. The trials that we go through, though difficult, produce something different and better on the other side. The fires that we are put to makes us vulnerable to God’s hand changing us for the better. There is imagery in the Bible that compares God to the potter and us being the clay, and this is how the trials that we go through make us better.

Through the steadfastness that we gain from the testing and trials that we go through, we become perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. It seems difficult when we face the issues, but if we look at them from the outside view of God is giving us a chance to change for the better by overcoming the difficulties that we are facing, it gets easier. Continuing with the idea of God being the potter, if he sees something that we are lacking or some imperfection that He wants out, He can change that by molding the pot to fix it. There is also the other way that the potter may have to fix something imperfect, by destroying what was there and rebuilding something even better. We do not see the imperfections that God sees, but we can help one another through them. “As iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another,” Prov. 27:17.