This "trying of our faith" works "patience." The word used here for "patience" means literally "to abide under" something. We find it very hard to remain quiet under adverse circumstances, but God expects us to endure them cheerfully. No one knew how to do this better than Paul. When he and Silas were flogged at Philippi, then jailed, and then subjected to the torture of the stocks, they sang! Indeed, they sang to such effect that their influence and testimony not only held their fellow prisoners enthralled but also led to the conversion of their jailer (Acts 16:19-31).

James knew that Hebrew Christians were frequently being persecuted for their faith. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews (presumably the apostle Paul) encouraged Hebrew Christians not to give up their boldness. He reminded them that they "took joyfully the spoiling of your goods" (Heb. 10:34). To this day, Jewish Christians often pay a high price for their confession of faith. It is not uncommon for other Jews to ostracize them. Sometimes they are counted as already dead and are treated accordingly: a dead person cannot be married, cannot own property, and cannot hold a job. He is dead. The key to survival under such testing is patience.

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The third purpose of testing is to mature us: "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (1:4). Testing is a process. It has to go on and on until full maturity is reached and we become people of demonstrable Christian character.

The word for "perfect" is teleios. It indicates something that has reached its end, something that is finished. It carries the idea of being fully developed, of being complete, or of being initiated. The word was applied to people who were fully instructed in something in contrast to those who were mere novices. Paul used the word when writing to carnal and immature Corinthians to describe a believer who had advanced beyond the need of elementary teaching (1 Cor. 2:67). James has in mind patience leading to perfection in performance — a "perfect work." The word for "entire" is holokleros. Paul used the word when he wrote to the Thessalonians. He told them that, in view of the coming rapture, they should be whole in spirit, soul, and body. The idea is that every grace present in Christ should be manifested in the believer. Or, as James puts it, "wanting [lacking] nothing."

Patience is a farmer's word. The farmer plows and plants his field, but then he has to wait patiently for the harvest.

Patience is a photographer's word. We see him as he goes into the wilds to get videos of a cuckoo putting its eggs in another bird's nest or of a crocodile tenderly picking up its newly hatched young in her mouth. He has to find the right spot, build his blind, set up his cameras — and then settle down to wait.

Patience is an astronomer's word. His calculations tell him of the impending visit of a comet or the coming of an eclipse. In no way can he hurry the process. If he wants to see the comet or the eclipse, he must wait.