We’ve got your daily encouragement, written by Bruce Sampson.
Bible Reading:
“7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”
James 5:7-11
Word:
In the business world, if you were to compare how much you paid for an investment to how much you earned back, you would check the return on investment (ROI) to evaluate its efficiency. Likewise with anything we wait for. We invest a lot when we wait expecting the payoff in the end to be a desirable one. However, sometimes the waiting gets tough, we lose patience, or our evaluation in the end doesn’t payoff like we thought and it keeps us from moving forward. How do we then endure while waiting in our times of uncertainty and struggle?
Firstly, I believe God offers us the most certain investment to wait for in the return of Jesus. In that day we will truly see our ROI not only in choosing to wait, but how we chose to wait during the difficult seasons ahead. In the book of James, he encourages the believer in Christ to “be patient” and “establish [their] hearts” because the results of our patience is unto a life that is truly blessed (James 5:8,11). James shares how we establish our hearts through what our hearts should be cautious of.
In the beginning of the passage, James first addresses the many ways we tend to establish our hearts in treasure that makes our hearts greedy, corrupt, and selfish (James 5:1-6). Not to mention that James is also Jesus’ brother so you can see where he gets this familiar language from. Jesus puts it this way by saying, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21).
Your “treasure” can be anything but if it is not treasure stored up in the things of God, it will eventually fade away on this earth. The funny thing is, I believe we know this already. No wonder we panic in times of waiting because there’s really no certainty in the treasure we have put our trust in. The only thing we know to do when our ROI comes back inefficient is to invest into the next thing in hopes that it satisfies us.
If our treasure is invested into a merciful and compassionate God, we can endure waiting in hopeful anticipation knowing the return is great and will not fail us. We know we can trust God because the death Jesus endured out of love for you and I. We know He will not fail us because not even death could prevail over Him. In the end we receive all that was paid for through the finished work of Jesus. That’s a good investment.
Prayer:
Jesus, thank you for giving me hope in times of waiting. I choose to trust in your love to see me through any circumstance I’m facing. Where my heart has desired temporary things, fill my heart with the things that please you. It’s in Your name I pray, Amen.
Skillwork:
What “treasures” are keeping you from trusting God fully? This can be in the form of money, a relationship, a job, or an identity.
Write it out so you can begin training in righteousness!
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