Count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4
I can’t count the number of times I have read this scripture and thought I mostly understood it. As I read this morning I was surprised by how different this is than I thought. I have viewed it all these years through my own lens, formed by my history, and previous experiences. Today I saw it through a new lens, based on a certain situation surrounding me right now. A situation of conflict.
I realized that I read it more like this:
Count it all joy my brothers, when you meet physical persecution, for you know that the forcing of you to denounce your faith produces steadfastness…
Today though, I noticed the words ‘trials’ and ‘various kinds’, seeing conflict as one of the various kinds of trials! We so often run away from conflict, perceiving it as ungodly because it’s uncomfortable and can cause the exposure of our hearts. But the conflict is positive -it is our hearts that can be ungodly in the midst. When we respond with defensiveness, conflict is usually unfruitful, but when we respond in grace, our hearts and relationships are restored, resulting instead in great fruit.
All of chapter one is striking to me, because I am viewing it with a fresh perspective right now, but verses 26 and 27 were the others that stuck out today.
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
~James 1:26-7
Again, based on my lens of life prior, I read this differently than I know James meant it. Here’s kind of what I always read through my ‘Christian background’ lens:
…Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and not do drugs drink, too much alcohol or have sex before marriage.
Hmm…that’s not nearly the same thing. When seeing it through this situation of conflict, having joy in all kinds of trials, I suddenly see the ‘world’ as the attitudes of the heart. To keep myself unstained from the world means that my heart is unstained from the attitudes of the world – defensiveness, justification, the right to be right, judgment, pride, all mindsets that are not as Jesus’.
I always knew I wasn’t doing enough of the orphan and widow visiting, but thought I was mostly doing okay as far as the second part. And I think I never read them as one thought, always as two in different contexts. But they go together, and not coincidently. Pure religion is both – together. We can visit all the orphans and widows in the world, but if our attitudes are not that of Jesus, our hearts not becoming more like his everyday, and because of those things, we are not even able to love our Christian brother or sister, then we are still missing the pure and undefiled part. Period.
I am seeing that so many of us seek to do missions for the sake of the first part of the passage, feeling like that we get our points that way, and if we are not taking part in the obvious sins of the world, then we are doing pretty good. But somehow, our churches are splitting because we can’t love our own family in Christ. We tear each other down with our words, justifying gossip as ‘processing’, seeking out others who feel our same distaste for another, in order for ourselves to feel justified in our negative attitudes. We fight for our right to be right, when Jesus calls us to humble ourselves, submitting to one another out of reverence for Him and honor others above ourselves. We harbor bitterness and frustration over small things, allowing relationships to deteriorate because we lack the grace to see people as the children of the same God who is our own Dad.
Visiting (or giving money to) orphans and widows is easier than the other half, because in our minds and often in reality, it doesn’t require the energy into relationships that become hard. Relationships ARE hard, especially with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we have become accustomed to often keeping ourselves invulnerable, closed off to those who challenge us and cause conflict, resulting in growth. But that is not the kind of life and community God has called us to. As iron sharpens iron, so are we to sharpen one another. Conflicts are simply differing opinion, and when our lives are seasoned with grace, then conflict sharpens us, shaping us to be more like Jesus.
I don’t want to run from conflict, because I believe that God is who He says he is and that what He says is true. Trials produce steadfastness and the testing of our faith leads to completion in Him, when our hearts are right before Him – unstained from the world.
P.S. Check out the first chapter of James. It’s pretty convicting, and amazingly good.
