Colossians 2:9-10 NASB
[9] For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, [10] and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;
Ephesians 1:3 NASB
[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
James 1:2-4 NASB
[2] Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, c [3] knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. [4] And let endurance e have its perfect result, f so that you may be perfect g and complete, lacking in nothing. …
These Scriptures speak a powerful truth to us, though if just looked at on the surface they may seem to be a contradiction. The first two scriptures that I quoted make it very clear that we have already been made complete in Christ, and that we already have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, yet those verses from the book of James indicate that there is a perfecting and completing process still taking place in our lives. What are we to make of all of this.
Though it is true that our position in Christ, because of our union with him, that we have already been made complete, and that we already have every spiritual blessing in Him, yet God uses the trials, and the temptations of this fallen world to teach us how to live by faith, and in doing so, we learn to draw from all that has been deposited in us in Christ, so that it is increasingly manifested. Here is an example; it’s one thing to have money, but it’s another thing for a need or a want to compel us to spend the money that we have. James 1:3 says, that we should know that when we encounter various trials that our faith is being tested, and that the testing of our faith produces endurance. The word “endurance” literally means in the Greek language “to abide under.” Jesus said that in this world we would have tribulation and our God who is good does not waste anything, so he uses those tribulations, regardless of their source, to teach us how to take our faith out for a spin so that we learn to abide in Christ even when were under attack. The result of our learning how to abide by faith in Christ when under attack results, according to verse 4, a perfecting and a completion so that we lack nothing in our walk with him experientially. In other words think of all that you are in Christ and all that you have in Christ as a great wealth deposited in you, but God uses the tribulations and trials of this world to teach us to write spiritual checks by faith on all that wealth, so that it’s not just something in us, but it is now something we are manifesting and experiencing.
In light of that reality, the Holy Spirit says in verse 2, “consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.” That is an amazing statement, but it does make total sense, that if various trials teach me how to manifest in my experience by faith what’s already mine because of my union with Christ, then I should be rejoicing when (not if ) when tested. God does not just want us to be spiritually wealthy; he wants us to live as spiritually wealthy people, and he uses trials to teach us how to enjoy and spend what we already have in Christ, and the more we spend of what we have in Christ, which of course is an endless supply, the more we began to take on His likeness, which is our destiny.
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