As we reach the end of James’ epistle, we see James call for patience in suffering. He started his letter in James 1 with a call for believers to be steadfast in faith, to be those who remain steadfast under trial, before he launched into the meat of James on godly living. Here he returns to the application of being patient — “be patient, therefore, brothers” ties this application directly to everything we’ve heard in James thus far. The call to patience here and the call to steadfastness in James 1 are bookends.

In this section of James, we look at what it means to be patient as a believer, why it’s important, and how we can be patient practically.