SCRIPTURE James 1:2-4 MSG Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.
THOUGHT: How is it a gift 1) when tests and challenges come at us from all sides? 2) when pressure and anxiety cause us to implode on self or explode on others? or 3) when we feel a fool because our faith talk doesn’t match our actions or feelings or thoughts? Well, because having our character weaknesses exposed is an opportunity to clearly see our desperation for God’s work. And ‘missing the mark’ is truly the only way we come to understand what grace is. After all, the life of a Christ-follower is far more about truth than perfection. Paul says the more we see the truth about ourselves, and the truth about God, the more complete and mature we become. There is joy in that!
SONG: Forever Reign https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O1GleGicNg
PRAYER NEEDS: That people in these days would not run from truth — about themselves, about the world, and about God.
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