The Book of James: Authentic Faith Is VisibleНамуна

Faith Under Pressure

Perhaps you (like me) tend to push back on what you read in the book of James – because surely God wouldn’t expect you to rejoice during tough times, and surely He wouldn’t let you walk through hardship and expect you to simultaneously resist temptation. And yet, James calls us not just to believe all this, but to obey.

In James 1:2–8, James explains that faith is tested by external pressures: trials. He urges us to rejoice when we encounter hardship. James isn’t minimizing our pain. He’s helping us reframe it by recognising that God is doing something deeper through the pressure. God is producing endurance, resilience, and maturity – a faith that holds steady. He’s remaking us in the image of Christ. Thankfully, James also tells us how to get help when we’re overwhelmed by hardships: we can pray for wisdom, and God promises to give it to us.

In James 1:9–18, James explains how faith is tested by internal pressures: temptations. Temptation isn’t about what’s happening to you; it’s about what’s happening in you. Trials are God’s tool for transformation, while temptations are our sinful, disordered desires trying to pull us away from that transformation. A trial is an opportunity to be refined, whereas temptation is a threat that seeks to destroy. So then, in every moment of pressure, you have the choice either to be shaped more into the image of Christ, or to allow yourself to be lured away from Him by your own desires. And the truth is, whether you’re rich or poor, privileged or under pressure, every life comes with trials and temptations. We all experience different pressures, but we have the same opportunity: to make our faith visible through how we endure trials and resist temptation.

In James 1:16–18, James makes it clear that God is a loving Father and the giver of every good and perfect gift. He’s not cruel, capricious, or out to crush us. When it doesn’t feel to you as if God’s intentions towards you are always, wholly good, remember the truth about His character. The trials we go through are evidence of His investment in our lives and His desire to transform us through Christ. Through life’s pressures, God is producing something eternal in us – maturity, depth, and dependence – and giving us what money can’t buy and ease can’t grow: Christlikeness. If the pressure you’re under is making you more like Jesus then it’s a trial – celebrate! If it’s making you less like Jesus then it’s a temptation – resist!

Too often, we read God’s Word but don’t actually obey it. We talk of faith, but don’t experience its power. We say we follow Jesus, but the world sees no difference in us. James calls us to awaken a faith the world can’t deny. Authentic faith is forged and revealed when we trust God in the face of both external trials and internal temptations. Be encouraged: God is at work where you are under pressure – not to expose you, but to form you. So, don’t just pray for relief. Ask for wisdom. Don’t just seek escape. Ask for endurance. Have faith in your faithful God.