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.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask
God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a
wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not
suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man,
unstable in all his ways.
Let the lowly brother boast in his
exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass
he will pass away.
James 1:2-10
Times
of difficulty and anxiety are the times when Christians have a golden
opportunity to exercise faith – and for good reason, as James points out in the
above passage. We should not, therefore, promise ourselves too much, so that we
will not be so discontent when things do not pan out the way we wanted or expected.
To
bring us full circle back to where we began this series on contentment, we
should interpret what happens to us in the light of a God who is always good.
This does not mean that God does not train us with needs and difficulties but
that he always works for our eternal good.
Jeremiah
Burroughs, in his book The Rare Jewel of
Christian Contentment, explains that if we have a friend who is always
putting a bad interpretation on what we say and do, we will very quickly tire
of his so-called ‘friendship’: we should not, therefore, be just as sceptical
of God.
In
the passage at the start of yesterday’s Reflection, we read of all the
hardships that St Paul was ‘content’ with. James’ letter, which could well have
been the first of the letters that are in the New Testament to have been
written, was addressed not just to one church but to many. It deals with
financial issues and the problems between rich and poor Christians, in particular
their lack of contentment, and I assume that these sorts of problems may have
been commonplace. (I recommend reading the entire letter in a single sitting,
focusing on the financial issues and their implications.)
I
realise, therefore, and know from my own experience, that what I have written
about contentment is easier said than done. It is a challenge to us all to
preserve our contentment in a consumer society but, as in all things, and as James remind us in the above passage, we can look to God for the necessary wisdom.
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Copyright © All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans
2013.
Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright
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