Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
Hole #14 on our golf course is a par four. It’s pretty straight, and from the tee box, you can’t see the green. It’s up over a gentle hill, a ridge not usually reached.Anyway, on this day, I striped one down the middle, aided by a good gust of wind. I don’t believe I’d ever hit a better drive on this hole.
It wound up in the middle of the fairway, maybe 30 yards from the green. The green was our typical Donald Ross “disaster waiting to happen,” elevated back-to-front, with a significant drop-off on the backside and a greenside bunker on the right.
One member of our crowd was on injured reserve and was not playing, but just traveling along in his own cart, heckling us. He pulled up as I got to the ball.
“Great drive,” he said. “Important now to think positively that you’re gonna drop this thing close to the flag.”
“No way,” I replied. Jokingly, I continued, “I’m a firm believer in pessimism. Pretty sure I’m going to skull it over the back. With that as my expectation, I’m not setting myself up for disappointment. If I do skull it over the back, I’ll have the satisfaction of having been correct. And if I drop it close, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Win-win.”
I plucked a wedge from the bag, mustered up whatever sense of seriousness and focus I could, addressed the ball, and promptly shanked it into the trap on the right.
“See, I was almost right. And if I had expected to knock it tight to the pin, right now I’d be wrestling with club-chucking levels of disappointment.”
He drove off, laughing.
I’m not certain that thinning it over the back or shanking it into a bunker after an excellent drive qualifies as one of James’ “trials of various kinds.”
Testing my faith in my short game and testing my faith in Jesus are Venn diagram circles that really don’t intersect. Weak faith in my sorry short game is entirely justified. It’s got pessimism written all over it.
But steadfast faith in Jesus’ atoning work is on a whole different plane, which James assures us makes us “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
The perfection he refers to here is the perfection of “be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” that Jesus described in His Sermon on the Mount.
Which is a good description of my standing in Christ. Cause for optimism. Much more so than my short game.
Prayer: Lord, grant us steadfast faith in the salvation you have provided for us – our ultimate cause for optimism.