Outline

«　WEEK 12　DAY 3　»

　　James 5:7 Therefore be long-suffering, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer eagerly awaits the precious fruit of the earth, exercising long-suffering over it until it receives the early and late rain.

　　Gal. 4:19 My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.

　　The Lord Jesus is actually the real Farmer, the unique Farmer. As we are awaiting His coming, He, as the real Farmer, is awaiting our maturity. We may pray, “Lord, come back quickly.” However, He may say, “My children, mature quicker. While you are awaiting My coming back, I am awaiting your maturity…Only your maturity can hasten My coming back. You exercise your long-suffering, and I exercise My long-suffering.” (Life-study of James, pp. 92-93)

　　It is a great help for us to realize that if we are serious about awaiting the Lord’s coming back, we need to grow in life. Most Christians today view the Lord’s coming in an altogether objective way, in a way that has nothing to do with our spiritual condition or spiritual growth. Their expectation is that one day the Lord will suddenly come and that His coming will have nothing to do with their maturity.

　　The illustration of the farmer in James 5:7 implies that the farmer is waiting for the crop growing in the field to ripen. According to Revelation 14, the Lord is also waiting for the harvest to be ripe…This harvest will be the issue, the outcome, of the Lord’s sowing of Himself as a seed. This was accomplished during the Lord’s first coming, and it is described in Matthew 13. We need to realize that it is the ripening of the harvest that will hasten the Lord’s coming back.

　　When we are persecuted, we need long-suffering. Therefore, long-suffering is an expression of our patience toward people. The prophets were persecuted, but they were long-suffering toward their persecutors. Endurance, on the contrary, is an expression of our patience toward the things that afflict us. Therefore, when Job suffered affliction, he displayed endurance.

　　In his writing, James uses the Greek words for long-suffering and endurance. While we are awaiting the Lord’s coming back, we need both long-suffering and endurance because we face suffering from two sources. These sources are persons who persecute us and the environment that afflicts us.

　　For the Lord’s coming back, we need long-suffering, endurance, and the growth in life. As we are exercising long-suffering toward those who persecute us and endurance toward afflictions, we need to grow in life. Then we will be able to say, “O Lord Jesus, come back sooner. Lord, can’t You see that I am growing in life? Today I am growing faster than yesterday. Because I am growing, Lord, I ask You to speed up Your coming back.”

　　If we fulfill the condition of growing in life, the Lord will fulfill the condition of coming back sooner. Therefore, we need to grow in life, and as we are growing, to exercise long-suffering and endurance. This is the proper way to await the Lord’s coming back. (Life-study of James, pp. 93-94)

　　We all know that the purpose of God’s salvation is to work in us so that we may have His image (Rom. 8:29)…To be mature is to have the Lord fully formed in us. It also means that we, those who have been saved, have been fully transformed into the Lord’s image…Through the salvation of the Lord, the Lord has added Himself into us. Since the time of our regeneration and salvation, the Lord has been adding Himself into us, causing us to have His life and nature. In other words, from the time of our salvation, the Lord has been working in us so that we may have His image. When the Lord has fully worked His image into us and is fully expressed out from within us, then we will be mature in life. (CWWL, 1955, vol. 3, “The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life,” pp. 295-296)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of James, msg. 11; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 424