After talking to a friend from home today, this verse was brought to mind:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4
What does that word consider actually mean?
Well in the Merriam-Webster dictionary it means this: to think about (something or someone) carefully especially in order to make a choice or decision.
So James isn’t saying consider every thing that has been going wrong in your trial.
He doesn’t say consider how these things keep happening to you.
And he definitely doesn’t say consider having a pity party.
He says consider it PURE JOY! It’s not mixed with anything else, it’s a feeling of great happiness.
James is telling us to consider pure joy in these trials of MANY kinds.
You may be saying, “Well Benita, that may be easy for you to write but you don’t know what I’m going through. You don’t know my struggles. You don’t pour my cereal!”
You’re right. I don’t know what your trial of MANY kinds looks like right now but I do know that even in this season of your life, it’s only a season.
Seasons pass.
I also believe that God is still SO good even in our trials of many kinds.
Even in moments when we have to dig for the nuggets of thankfulness that seem buried in our trial. The great thing is that they have been there the whole time. We just might have to dig a little bit deeper to find them.
So get into His word.
Find the nuggets of truth that tell you “…the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:3-4
“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”
James 1:12
“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Hebrews 12:1b, 2-3
Before we go, I just want to touch on the end of James 1:4 “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
If we don’t allow the trials of many kinds to develop this perseverance within us then we will not be fully equipped for the next thing that God has planned for us.
So I don’t know about you, but I am willing to let perseverance do its thing. I want to be a full grown adult, not an infant who still craves milk.
