July 29

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have it's perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”

How do we learn to have a faith that is consistent, that despite the hardships we may face in life, we hang in there? We learn one day at a time through endurance. In the Scripture reading, James isn't talking about the 'running out of puff' faith that sets off on a 100 meter sprint, and ends up gasping for air some 50 meters before the finishing line. Long-term faith is part of perfect trust. When the gospel message is being shared, how many times do we hear the response, “That faith stuff may be ok for you, but it's not for me, I burned my boats years ago!” How sadly mistaken they are if they think they have to be a certain type of person to receive the gospel.

Take a look at Hebrews 11. There we find Noah, a farmer, who, for a period of 120 years, became a boat-builder. Built the ark, then after the flood got drunk and shamed his children. Then there's Abraham, a businessman, whose start in life left a lot to be desired. He was born to idolatrous parents. As a result he had a character weakness – he told lies, often at the expense of his wife Sarah, all to save his own skin. And Joseph. Once the favoured son of Jacob, and as a result of that, was sold by his brothers to become a slave. Along the way, Joseph acquired an unmerited prison record but was in later years, to become a prime minister in Egypt. Moses too, the same Moses who, as a baby, was hidden in the bulrushes of the river Nile by his mother to save his life. Rescued and brought up by a princess, he killed a man, attempting to hide the body in a shallow grave. Later, he spent years of his life in the desert, working for his father-in-law as a shepherd. Chapter 11 lists more – Sarah, the homemaker – Rahab, the prostitute....Jacob, the chiseler. All of these were Bible characters who earned mention as examples of people who had implicit faith in God - no haloes or perfect backgrounds or sinless lives – just ordinary people, people who struggled, doubted, and hit hard times, and failed during their lives. They simply believed and had a faith that was consistent, believed God was in every situation with them. They faced one day at a time and trusted God overall, more than themselves.

(Charles R Swindoll (2000), “Perfect Trust.”

Once again Bryn has made a good music selection - “There Are Three Wooden Crosses”. Just click on the picture to listen.

     Housekeeping details for you

     The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.

     A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here