Word
of God
Man
does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from
the mouth of God
Matthew
4:4
The
Epistle of James 1:3-4
3
Knowing that the trying of your faith bringeth forth patience, 4 And
let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
entire, lacking nothing.
Brethren:
There
must be patience: The trial of faith worketh patience. The trying of
one grace produces another; and the more the suffering graces of a
Christian are exercised the stronger they grow. Tribulation worketh
patience, (See Romans 5:3). Now, to exercise Christian patience
aright, we must: Let it work. It is not a stupid, but an active
thing. Stoical apathy and Christian patience are very different: by
the one men become, in some measure, insensible of their afflictions;
but by the other they become triumphant in and over them. Let us take
care, in times of trial, that patience and not passion, be set at
work in us; whatever is said or done, let patience have the saying
and doing of it: let us not allow the indulging of our passions to
hinder the operation and noble effects of patience; let us give it
leave to work, and it will work wonders in a time of trouble.
We
must let it have its perfect work. Do nothing to limit it nor to
weaken it; but let it have its full scope: if one affliction come
upon the heels of another, and a train of them are drawn upon us, yet
let patience go on till its work is perfected. When we bear all that
God appoints, and as long as he appoints, and with a humble obedient
eye to him, and when we not only bear troubles, but rejoice in them,
then patience hath its perfect work.
When
the work of patience is complete, then the Christian is entire, and
nothing will be wanting: it will furnish us with all that is
necessary for our Christian race and warfare, and will enable us to
persevere to the end, and then its work will be ended, and crowned
with glory. After we have abounded in other graces, we have need of
patience, (See Hebrews 10:36). But let patience have its perfect
work, and we shall be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
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