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Patience
James 5:7-12
Last week James forced us to wrestle with a very uncomfortable question: Where do you really find your security?
Is it in what you can build, such as your career or your family?
Is it in what you can save, such as your retirement portfolio?
Is it in what you can control, such as your budget, your business? Or is it in what God has promised?
James shows us the danger of building our assurance on the things of this world. Not because work, planning, or saving are wrong — Scripture commends diligence and wisdom. But because they make terrible saviors.
And the danger is subtle, because these things feel secure. You can see your bank account. You can track your investments. You can plan your career. You can build toward retirement. You can create a vision of the life you want. And these things can begin to quietly shape what drives you. Not necessarily greed, but security.
Ultimately, we want to know that our future will be okay. We want to know that our future life is secure. This is not a bad desire. It’s a good desire. And our problem isn’t planning in light of it. Our problem is basing our assurance on what we can plan for ourselves. Because in the end, we are not in control. And we know how true that is. In just the past couple of decades we have seen markets collapse, wars begin unexpectedly, pandemics shut down the world, hurricanes wipe out communities overnight. Things people thought were stable disappeared almost instantly.
Building our assurance and what we can produce is not only dangerous because we’re not in control, but because of how it can shape us. We saw how it can lead to moral blindness. It is easy to get so caught up in what you have to do, that you overlook the needs of others all around you. You justify passing them by. You can become less generous. Less patient. Less compassionate. We can start seeing people as obstacles instead of neighbors.
That is what James exposed in the passage before this one. But now James turns the coin over. And this is where verse 7 begins with that very important word: "Therefore…" Meaning: If your security is not to be found in what you build here, if your assurance is not in worldly wealth, if your future is not defined by what you can control—then what does it look like to actually live that way? What kind of life does that produce?
James gives a simple but very challenging answer: Patience.
If your hope is truly in Christ's kingdom, you will have to live between the promise and the fulfillment. Between what God has guaranteed and what you do not yet see. And that requires patience. We must live by faith in what we cannot yet see, instead of by sight in what we can.
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By James 5:7-12
Last week James forced us to wrestle with a very uncomfortable question: Where do you really find your security?
Is it in what you can build, such as your career or your family?
Is it in what you can save, such as your retirement portfolio?
Is it in what you can control, such as your budget, your business? Or is it in what God has promised?
James shows us the danger of building our assurance on the things of this world. Not because work, planning, or saving are wrong — Scripture commends diligence and wisdom. But because they make terrible saviors.
And the danger is subtle, because these things feel secure. You can see your bank account. You can track your investments. You can plan your career. You can build toward retirement. You can create a vision of the life you want. And these things can begin to quietly shape what drives you. Not necessarily greed, but security.
Ultimately, we want to know that our future will be okay. We want to know that our future life is secure. This is not a bad desire. It’s a good desire. And our problem isn’t planning in light of it. Our problem is basing our assurance on what we can plan for ourselves. Because in the end, we are not in control. And we know how true that is. In just the past couple of decades we have seen markets collapse, wars begin unexpectedly, pandemics shut down the world, hurricanes wipe out communities overnight. Things people thought were stable disappeared almost instantly.
Building our assurance and what we can produce is not only dangerous because we’re not in control, but because of how it can shape us. We saw how it can lead to moral blindness. It is easy to get so caught up in what you have to do, that you overlook the needs of others all around you. You justify passing them by. You can become less generous. Less patient. Less compassionate. We can start seeing people as obstacles instead of neighbors.
That is what James exposed in the passage before this one. But now James turns the coin over. And this is where verse 7 begins with that very important word: "Therefore…" Meaning: If your security is not to be found in what you build here, if your assurance is not in worldly wealth, if your future is not defined by what you can control—then what does it look like to actually live that way? What kind of life does that produce?
James gives a simple but very challenging answer: Patience.
If your hope is truly in Christ's kingdom, you will have to live between the promise and the fulfillment. Between what God has guaranteed and what you do not yet see. And that requires patience. We must live by faith in what we cannot yet see, instead of by sight in what we can.