Testing, testing

I've been reading in the book of James the past two weeks, along with my TableTalk. The focus of the passages under consideration has been on enduring trials. In the context of trials, I have learned some things:

• We should count it a joy to encounter trials (1:2)
• The testing of our faith produces endurance (1:2)
• Endurance will help perfect (or complete) me in Christ (1:3)
• If we lack wisdom, and ask God, believing He will give it, we will receive it (1:5-6)
• We are blessed when we persevere under trial (1:2)
• God is not the author of our temptations, but rather they arise from within our own desire (1:13-14)
• Every good thing given and every perfect gift comes from the Father (1:17)
• We ought to be quick to hear, slow to speak (1:19)
• We ought to receive the Word of God with meekness (1:21)

I have been reading TableTalk with my children, discussing the verses, hearing their thoughts, and I've seen that my children know nothing of real trials. To them, trials are things such as death, illness, natural disaster, physical persecution for their faith. They are aware of others who endure such trials, and because they don't, I don't think they see the reality of trials in their own lives.

I've been thinking about this whole area of trials over the past few days, and I have to say that I really don't understand devastating trials either. I've had a few blips on the screen, but nothing to rival what the survivors of the tsunamis are enduring, or others in foreign countries who are enduring persecution for their faith. So how does this apply to me?

James makes it clear in verses 13-14 that the source of our tests is not an external one, but rather, the test comes from within ourselves. Our circumstances may be dangerous or contain sinful elements, but it is our response to those situations that provide the test. If I meet with an illness, the test comes when rather than becoming bitter and angry toward God, I rejoice and praise Him. It's like the choice Job was given by his wife to curse God and die. Job faced a trial, and made the better decision not to curse God. God is able to bring good out of any circumstance, because He is sovereign. He wants us to be strong in our trials, because we belong to Him, and He called us to Him. Romans 8:28 tells us: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." The tests come for our good.

But what kind of tests do we face each day? Some face great ones, but what about those who do not? What tests are there in our midst? Well, I've been thinking about it, and I think that being a Christian in North America today is a test in itself. As Christians, we hold that truth is found in God's Word, the Bible. We base our very life upon it. We live in a world, however, that is not at all allured with the notion of objective truth, but prefers to make its own. Situational ethics are the order of the day. The hostility toward God's word grows each year more and more serious.

As Christians, we believe that God is our creator, and that life is sacred, yet we live in a world where the sacredness of life is debated in legislatures and courtrooms rather than embraced and cherished. Humanity has become denigrated in little ways that seem innocuous enough, but aren't. A baby is no longer a baby, it is a "fetus."

As Christians, we value the role of the traditional family as providing the very foundation of North American society, yet the traditional family is becoming an endangered species. It is becoming so serious that there are those who support the notion that a child's formative years, i.e. the first five, are better spent in an institutional setting rather than within the confines of a loving family. We value motherhood as a gift from God, but it is an occupation that increasingly loses value in the eyes of society. Our young people are being fed a regular diet of the notion that human relationships are merely the means for personal gratification, not the basis for a commitment that will last for a life time.

The person of Jesus Christ gives us, as Christians, the model for how we are to live: to lay aside our own ambition, to submit to our Heavenly father, to become humble, to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2). However, we live in a world that does not reward humility and sacrifice, but rather promotes self-actualization, greed, opportunism. Our society rewards those who get their fifteen minutes of fame, even if all that one does is act more audacious than his neighbour. Our society seeks quick, fleeting, gratification, not life-time commitments. This is totally at odds with the call of Christ who calls us to endure until the end.

So where is the temptation in all this? We cannot help but be influenced by these ideals. Our popular culture, even our "high" culture, is shaped by these tendencies. The shows we watch on t.v., the music we listen to, are shaped by these. The messages may be subtle and difficult to detect, but they are there. How do we stand firm against such things? How do we persevere? How do we remain true to God in the midst of our world?

The temptation may come when we don't want to persevere, but just give up. The temptation comes when, in our self-centredness, we want to give into popular thought. After all, isn't it easier to be One of the Gang, as opposed to The Other? Isn't it all rather tiring to continually be faced with conflict and contradiction? Aren't we a little tempted to follow the Gospel of Fame and Fortune? If we are human, and honest with ourselves, we are. It is a day to day resistance to become "strangers and aliens" in the world in which we live, to remember that our citizenship is in Heaven.

I Corinthians 12:10 says: "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it." We can endure, but we cannot do it on our own. God has given us the means to endure day to day trials as well as big trials. We just need to ask. James tell us in 1:5 that if we lack wisdom, we just need to ask for it. He also reminds us to receive with meekness the "word implanted" (v. 21). Being in regular communion with God through prayer and the reading of His word will give me the wisdom I need to handle the trials that come along. James tells us that there is a reward in all of this: "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

May we all persevere each day, no matter how big or small the trial.