Rejoice in Suffering: James 1:1-4
James 1:1-4 (ESV)
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
Testing of Your Faith
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Before I get started, just a quick note. This month I’ll be trying yet another different approach to a daily devotion. I’m using the book of James. Why? I don’t know. Sometimes God just plants a book in my mind to read and study, and so here we are. There are 5 chapters in this small book. My goal is to stay in one chapter per week, but that plan may change as I look at each section of it at a time. For now, let’s get started with the first part of James Chapter 1.
Rejoice in Suffering
What a contradiction of terms, ‘rejoice’ and ‘suffering.’ To rejoice is to be happy, glad, to be bouncing around with joy. Suffering is never a fun ordeal. In these early days when James wrote, hardship meant persecution. The trials and testing that were experienced often actually led to some form of death for Christians. What is there to be joyful about in that? The hard ordeal that we pass through results in a beneficial, valuable product. One that is complete, or perfect, or finished.
For example, I’ve never been fond of running. To me it should only be done for two occasions. When someone is chasing you, or when you’re being chased by someone. Now, if I were to leave my running practices to that, which I have for many years now, if the demand to run was placed on me, I’d probably not get very far, or very fast. Running is such hard work. It makes your feet hurt, your knees hurt, it makes sweat pop out all over, and even makes your heart and lungs hurt as you are forced to take in large amounts of oxygen. Very unpleasant business.
At one time in my life, I was in the military. Can you believe it? They made me get up early in the morning! And for what? To run! What a way to start a day. It didn’t matter if it was cold, or rainy, and it’s rarely sunny and warm at 6 in the morning. Sometimes we would wait until later in the day and run in the middle of the afternoon. Just when the sun is at its highest in the sky and hottest. The best time of the day for me was always when the barracks was in view and the run was over.
Once the running was over, it suddenly seemed not so bad. I actually felt better for doing it. It was keeping me prepared and tuned up for some day when somebody just might be chasing me. Somebody who I might not want to be caught by. It kept my heart and lungs healthy. It built up not only physical strength, but mental endurance. I had the confidence in my abilities should a crisis arise. Good came from the hardship of running, that far outweighed that ordeal of suffering.
In life, bad things do and will happen. Especially for those who believe in God. The first thing to do is to try to avoid thinking that you are the only one this happens to, you’re not. Don’t feel guilty when something happens due to no fault of your own. Nobody is picking on you, God hasn’t forsaken you. Face up to the trial and testing. Getting patience isn’t fun. Recognize it for what it is and keep focused on God.
The test is like my run. Not fun, and the source of much agony and complaint. The patience is what comes after enduring the hardship. It’s the patience we’re told to be joyful over, the end result of the test.
stick it out and see the thing through. Patience involves some mental exercise. Keep your mind focused on something. During a run, it might be maintaining a distance from the guy in front of you, or keeping one foot in front of the other, holding a steady rhythm. In trials and testing, use God as that focus.
When it’s all done, the lasting strength, endurance, and confidence that you made it through will put you a little step closer to developing a strong relationship with God. We’ll know what kind of life struggles we can handle with confidence. The virtue of patience is ours for enduring. We don’t have to be joyful for the test, but for what the outcome will be.
Revised 05-16-2018