Does anybody want to think with me this week about what Jesus means when he says his yoke is easy and his burden is light when we know that testing is a part of the refining process that purifies our character and allows our Spirit to thrive? I think that part of the point is that all this worldly stuff doesn't matter and that who we are with God is all that does matter, so that should put our selves at ease. But if we are good with God, why are things in the world so hard? Sin, fallen world, Satan all contribute of course. We struggle with all of these and our relationship with God and His Word. I am thinking the reason I let the struggle define the situation is that I lack the power of the Spirit. I, like Peter, look down at my feet as if I can compel them to walk on water rather than trust Jesus to get me through. The Bible says in James 1:2-4 "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
I am still learning the truths of the Word and reflecting on them and sharing them is helpful. Also, other translations of that verse say "the testing of your faith produces patience" instead of the word "endurance." And a devotional I have says "patience" comes from a word that means "suffering." To me the verse makes more sense with "patience" meaning "suffering." The Word reveals faith will produce 'suffering' but that the suffering will have its perfect result, so that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. I think this idea more clearly reveals the Way and the Truth and the Life.
