Faith is intangible. Jesus compared it to wind in John 3:8. Just like wind, we can't see faith. We can only see the effects of faith. Some time ago, I had an extremely difficult year. Trials came in waves. Each new wave made the last one seem like child's play. For my own benefit, I decided to do a personal study on the book of James. James is famous for his call to believers to "consider it pure joy...whenever you face trials of many kinds" (James 1:2). But I wanted more from James. I wanted him to tell me how. I settled in to his epistle for as long as it would take. When I began my study of James, I didn't know how well he and I would get along. James has a reputation of being all about suffering well, controlling tongues and practical Christian living. Practicality in Christian circles has come to mean that it's time to get out pens and paper and write down a list of what we are supposed to do. But I'm not so good with rules. Guilt doesn't motivate me for long. I don't suffer well, and my tongue gets me into trouble all the time. Truthfully, I came into this epistle expecting a daily "hand-slap" and an exhortation to DO better. My past experiences with James have come in the form of lessons from other people interpreting the book for me. I recall a lesson here on taming tongues, and a lesson there on the importance of caring for widows and orphans. Whenever you break up a book of the Bible into pieces, this is what it can become-lessons in moral living. And so, for a week or two I worked on suffering well. I get that ball in the air, when the lesson on anger comes around. Then there are two balls in the air. Each week a new ball is added to the mix until sooner or later, I can't keep up with all the areas of my life that need work. Eventually all the balls drop and I find myself under the covers just trying to believe that Christ can accept me. Turns out, He does His best work on me when I'm hiding under the covers clinging to His righteousness instead of my own (2 Corinthians 12:9). The book of James is a pleading letter from a pastor to his scattered and disillusioned flock, warning them not to fall away from the faith or into temptation because of persecution and suffering. Many people see this epistle as a disorganized, hodge-podge of illustrations. But in context, it is brilliantly organized. James had human nature pegged. He didn't want his readers to be deceived into thinking they had saving faith just because they said they believed or because they had correct theology. Even demons believe correct theology (2:19). On this side of my study, I see that James was never intended to be a book of how-tos for believers to successfully keep all the balls in the air. On the contrary, James's message is this: "but He gives us more grace" (James 4:6).