For thought and meditation

[rl69]

Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. JAMES 1:4
Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.
Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.
We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work….” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His

[Markopolo]

wow... great!!!

[dverna]

I do not buy into that "perfect" stuff. God knows we will never be perfect...it is impossible. But He expects us to do our best and try.

If it was possible to be perfect, He would not have sent Jesus to die on the cross for us.

His 613 laws of the Old Testament were given knowing it would be impossible to keep them all. Heck, you would need to be a very exceptional person to even know them all never mind obeying them. Adam and Eve could not even keep one simple rule...think about it!

No...perfection is impossible...all we can do is try our best. And sometimes good enough is good enough.

If you expect to life a perfect life you will live with a lot of disappointment and failure. God did not make us that way.

[Blackwater]

Wow! What a great post. The part that hit me most was: "....but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives."

God NEVER gives up on us, for as long as we have breath in our bodies. What greater faithfulness could we have than this? What greater example could we have to follow? If we'd just learn the lesson ......

That principle of His never giving up on us applies to me about as much as it could for anyone. And am I ever humbled and thankful for his faithfulness to always guide us, even when we're fighting him tooth and nail sometimes. Do we serve an awesome God or what?