Do the Work

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials..." - James 1:2

Football season always reminds me of high school. Believe it or not, I despised taking tests, and those awful pop quizzes were the worst! One subject I excelled in was english. It came natural for me so it was nothing to sleep in class during instruction and then pass the tests with flying colors. Algebra was an entirely different monster. I struggled to grasp the concepts and simply opted to barely pass the class. I admit that I once convinced a friend to give me answers to a test. I whisked through the exam and turned in my paper confidently. The next day, I grinned as tests were being returned, trusting that my friend's answers were all I needed to shine. The big red 'F' on the top was followed by "you have the answers, now do the work".

On our spiritual journeys, we encounter various tests and trials. Some of the tests may seem familiar because we've been in the situation before. We might even think we already have a cheat sheet with the answers, only to find out that we are still required to do the work. Testing is necessary, because testing is used to reveal the level of knowledge and comprehension of an individual. What are you doing with all of that knowledge from those classes you've been attending? Are you applying it or is it going to waste? Are you comprehending the word of God being ingested or are you reading and listening without understanding? At the end of the day, God sees you going to church every week, that's like showing up for class. What He wants to know is if you're doing the work.

James 1 encourages us to rejoice during times of testing and to allow this testing to produce patience in us. The testing may seem grueling, hard, long, and unnecessary, but the word of God says that the patience produced during testing will be perfected and completed in us. Without patience, we will find ourselves going from one extreme to the other, one person after the other, one place after the other. We will lack stability in God because we won't have the patience to wait on Him to move. Allow your testing to be proven, to be made solid in Christ. Knowing all the answers isn't enough...you've got to do the work.

Determined to do the work,

Tracy Gale


P.S. - I opted to retake Algebra in college rather than skipping to Business Math because I knew I really hadn't done the work. I managed a solid 'A' upon finishing the class, because I did my work! To GOD be the glory!