Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
One of my favorite scenes is from Facing the Giants, the death crawl. There is one football player, and he had to have another football player on top of his back, and he went from one end zone to the other, and the coach kept prodding him on and on and on, encouraging and encouraging him. He was trying to see how far he could go. He went the whole distance, landed on the end zone, and he said, "Look up, Brock, you're in the end zone."
That was a tremendous test for the football player, but it was also a test for the whole team to figure out what kind of faith and belief they had.
Two Keys About Faith
Our Verse of the Day today in James chapter 1, verse 3 says two keys about faith. Number one is your faith needs to be tested. It says it right there in the verse. When your faith is tested, what is it in your life right now that's being tested? What is in your personal life, your work life? Maybe relationships in your family? Maybe there's a difficult relationship. God says that our faith needs to be tested.
He not only says that. He says, secondly, your faith needs endurance. Your faith is to be tested so your endurance has a chance to grow. Guess what? You and I aren’t going to grow unless some of your or my life has these tests in it.
Will We Grow or Be Crushed?
You and I have a tremendous opportunity. Will we allow the test to grow us, or will we allow it to crush us? Think about your life right now. Somebody once said this: You're either in a trial, you just came out of a trial, or you're going back into a trial. I'll never forget what a preacher once said, “If you don't get through the trial the right way, if you cut corners, God will make you take another lap.”
You might get all the way around the track. You've been really obedient. You've been trusting God, and you're like ten yards away from the finish line, and all of a sudden you decide to run off the track of life. You decide to cut corners, you decide to control and take matters into your own hands. I'm guilty of this. We all are.
Look to The Lord
Think about it. The key that we need in life is to remember that our faith is going to be tested. Then we have to figure out: Will we grow in the midst of the test?
You know, faith is incredibly important because Hebrews chapter 11 says, without faith, it's impossible to please God because anybody who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
May we be the type of people that this verse talks about. May you let every single test that you have not make your faith weaker, but make it stronger because you're seeking and looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.
