Lacking in Nothing

March 24, 2008

Lar,

I have had a fuller day than anticipated, so I figured I would share something I wrote for ‘Joe’s Notes’ the other day. I am currently working my way through the book of James at a very slow pace. What follows is Part 3 of my thoughts on James 1:2-4. It was especially good for my own soul to think through these verses.

“And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Who among us does not want to become mature and complete, lacking in nothing? And yet, as usual, while we desire the end, we are inclined to despise the means. But I ask you to simply imagine for a moment what it would be like to be mature and complete lacking in nothing. What would it be like to be free from your selfishness and self-pity and pride and laziness and impatience and lack of discipline and whatever other sin you can think of? What would it be like to be free from the things that hinder your fellowship with God and other people? What would it be like to overflow consistently with the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Can you imagine it just for a moment? Can you think of the joy?!

I ask these questions, because vision is needed. Clarity of vision is necessary. For James knows full well that we as human beings can endure and rejoice in any difficulty if we see clearly what that difficulty is designed to bring us. That is, if the end goal is precious enough to us, we can endure and rejoice in whatever the means. Human history and personal experience makes this psychological reality very plain.

Therefore, James wants us to lift up our eyes to who we can become, so that we might face the trials of today with utmost rejoicing. A basketball player cannot rejoice in pushing his body to the max day after day without a clear vision of his goal. A woman cannot rejoice in the pains of labor if she loses sight of the joy of a baby soon to come. Do you then, have a clear vision of maturity and completeness? And if you possess such a vision, do you think more about the goal or about the trials? Do you think more about the end, or about the means?

Much of our trouble in life flows from our lack of vision. We become so mired in the day to day difficulties of life that we lose sight of who God wants to make us and the place He has prepared for us. We despise the means because we lose sight of the end. We do not want to train because we have forgotten about the big game. We forget about maturity and completeness and therefore, grumble in the face of difficulty.

And yet God calls us to look beyond the means to the greater end, to look to things unseen.

“For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that re unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

The thinking is the same right? Clarify your vision. Clarify your goal. And look to that goal day after day so that you might embrace the various kinds of trials that will inevitably come. Do you want to become mature and complete, lacking in nothing? Do you want an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison? Then look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. Keep the eternal weight of glory in view. Think consistently of maturity and completeness. For then, and only then, will you be able to look your trials in the eye, so to speak, and say, “You are well worth it.” Then and only then will you have the strength to count your various trials all joy.

O Lord, make us a people of vision! Help us, O God, to focus on the end, so that we might embrace the means to that end. Clarify our vision of maturity and completeness. Capture our hearts with a vision of that eternal weight of glory that you long to give us, so that we might look to the things that are unseen and embrace every sort of trial as all joy. O God, grant us such grace in the name of your Son. For it is in His name that we pray. Amen and Amen.

Posted by Joe | Filed Under Scripture Meditation, Seeking Him