Page 19 - The MacArthur Daily Bible

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FIFTY-TWO KEY PASSAGES OF THE BIBLE
Week 51 Week 52
That you may become blameless and harmless, chil- My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into vari-
dren of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and ous trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces
perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you
the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.—JAMES
rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or 1:2–4, page 1175
labored in vain.—PHILIPPIANS 2:15,16, page 1008
As a Christian, I would like to be in a position
The “day of Christ” is the day we get to heaven and
meet the Lord. What would make that a day of rejoic- where I’m lacking nothing. But spiritual perfection
ing for Paul is seeing the believers who were gathered and maturity comes with pain. If there’s going to be
together in the presence of the Lord and being completeness, the only way to get there is through
rewarded because they had lived godly lives in the trials. You are strengthened by the development of
midst of a crooked and perverse generation, where spiritual endurance, and endurance is developed as
they had faithfully been shining as lights in the world. you persevere through trouble. People say, “Lord, I
want to be strong in the faith and bold for You.” Get
Paul said on another occasion to a group of believ-
ers, “You are my joy and crown of rejoicing. When I get ready, because when the Lord answers that prayer,
to heaven, my joy is going to be in seeing you there and it’s going to be the testing of your faith, taking you
seeing you rewarded for your faithful service” (a para- to the edge, that produces the endurance so critical
phrase of 1 Thess. 2:19). That’s a wonderful eternal to increasing spiritual strength.
perspective. His only concern was to get into the pres- I want to be all that God wants me to be for His
ence of the Lord and know that his efforts had eternal glory and for my usefulness. I don’t just grit my teeth
consequences. That’s why he wrote his letters,
preached his gospel, and exhorted his churches. He and endure the trial. James says, “Count it all joy.” You
wanted them to live blameless lives in the midst of what can do that as you look past the trial to the goal, to the
is a crooked, twisted, perverse world. And he wanted end, and that’s where the joy comes from. The end of
them to shine as lights in the world by holding forth the all our trials and all our suffering is our spiritual matu-
word of life, the word of Scripture. He wanted his peo- rity. Here we are stronger than ever and less suscep-
ple to live like that so that he could, with them, enjoy tible to besetting sins and debilitating temptations. I
the eternal reward that the Lord would grant. want that. I know you do, as well.

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