July 28 | James 1:2-18

Pam Mann
Jul 28
3 min read

DAILY READING

REFLECTION

PERSEVERE

By Pam Mann

James is not holding back, is he? He’s like our football coach at halftime. The first half has been rough. We’ve had hard hits, run disappointing plays. Our muscles ache. Our uniforms are soaked with sweat, and our weary faces are smeared with grime. Coach

James wants us to know the second half will be even tougher. The opposition may be big, fast, and relentless. But don’t get distracted by the strength of our foe. Focus. With every blow, remember God is shaping you and training you to be tough. With God’s Spirit equipping you and guiding you, you will push through this to the end.

Coach James runs through his check list:

Hard hits? We rejoice. The pounding we’re getting is making us tougher.

Unsure? We ask God for wisdom. He’ll grant it. We squelch the doubts. We trust God.

Fixated on financial assets, whether too meager or too massive? We recall the Biblical warning that wealth fails like scorching heat.

Tempted? We resist. We shut down any access to sinful desire.

As we trot back onto the field, in the face of very present danger, Coach James wants us to be mindful of heaven’s perspective. We are, after all, foremost, citizens of a heavenly country, with a birthright granted through adoption into Christ at great price. We are traveling foreigners in our present human trials, just as James’ first readers were likely scattered abroad by war or religious persecution. Thanks to Coach James, we remember that every blessing we have known is a gift from the Father of the heavenly lights. He is forever unchanging, eternal God, unbound by time or physical circumstance. And, yet He is not far off. God is with us with power to save in each present pressing moment of the coming days.

When my husband and I were teachers in Haiti, we often attended Sunday worship at a small evangelical church on the edge of town. The father-son team who pastored that church regularly invited visiting preachers to give the morning message. As a result, some messages were more biblically sound than others. One Sunday, the preacher was rock

solid with the message: Persevere, a word that in Haitian Creole sounds similar to the English. The text was Matthew 15:21-28, where a Canaanite woman pleads with Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter. The preacher kept close to the text as he replayed for us the drama that unfolds there. He spoke clearly and slowly enough that I, a foreigner, could follow. With masterful stage presence, he pulled us in and had us emphatically chanting “Persevere!” every time the distraught woman was rebuffed. (James would have loved this guy!)

I felt myself on holy ground. There I was, a US citizen, surrounded by Haitians rallying around the biblical imperative to persevere. These were believers who daily persevere through poverty and political unrest in unsafe neighborhoods. How utterly my daily challenges pale in comparison to theirs.

Yet Jesus comes to each of us, regardless of passport or social status, no matter what our trials are. The strength of the Lord is ours to persevere. Go with God!

PRAYER

Lord, thank you for the coaching of James to get us back into the game. Let us fear neither the enemy nor our inadequacies. Let us trust in You and your provision to see us through to the end.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAM MANN

I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.