“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3

The Principle of the Thing

Walk His Way Revisited
First Posted in June, 2014

I have an ancient Mr. Coffee pot. At any rate, it is ancient in comparison to how many coffee pots my mother-in-law has gone through since I’ve married into the family. The pot was a wedding gift from my brother-in-law and has made the perfect pot of coffee almost every day for over 26 years. It is white (or at least it used to be) and the slots on top where the water goes are brittle and about half gone. Over the years I’ve had to replace a carafe or two, but other than that, it is a good machine. My oldest daughter and mother are adamant that I get rid of it because it is so “ugly.” Mom even bought me a new one to replace it, but to my husband and me it is the principle of the thing. It still works, and we keep using it just to see how long it will last rather than how beautiful it looks.

Our faith is like that old coffee pot. Life can beat it up, use it up, and stain it. Some people would like us to get “rid” of our faith. They believe it is too “narrow-minded” and “old-fashioned” to be of any good. Satan attacks our faith as well as wearing us out so we will be tempted to abandon it and trade it for something else—something besides faith.

But God says: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8)—and “the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:3-4).

Just like my pot, faith is a gift. Testing it produces perseverance, which leads to maturity and completeness. What a wonderful promise! No matter what happens or what people may say, it’s about “the principle of the thing.” Hang on to your faith, sisters! Persevere and become mature and complete, lacking nothing.

Father, thank You for Your gift of faith. May we persevere in it even when it gets tough, brittle, and ugly. We want to mature and be complete, lacking nothing. In the name of Jesus, Amen.