THE BUILDING OF CHARACTER

THE BUILDING OF CHARACTER!

James 1:2-4

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

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hen all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the PROCESS go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find that you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence. (James 1:2-4 – Phillips Translation)

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. B. Phillips, in his paraphrase, calls the handling of problems a PROCESS. Merriam-Webster describes the word “process” as “something going on!” It is also described as: “a series of actions or operations directed toward a particular result.”

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ometimes when trials and problems hits us like a fully loaded freight train we ponder and wonder what is going on? Who is in charge of these problems that smash into us car after car? Then the questions come. Have I done something wrong? Have I upset the delicate balance of the universe? Is God angry with me?

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or the maturing believer the answer may mean that God is taking a raw recruit and transforming him into a solid well trained soldier. Nothing builds experience quite like making mistakes and then making the necessary corrections to see that those mistakes are not repeated later. We call that experience and you can’t get it from a book.

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hillips suggests that we welcome trials as friends. He suggests that the testing of our faith produces endurance and that the end result is that we become people of mature character with the right sort of independence.

Dear Lord, I do not ask for trials but I ask for the wisdom and maturity to handle them with character. AMEN