Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2-4 (NIV)
Not so conveniently, my late husband was born on Father’s Day.
Every year, right around Father’s Day, it’s going to be Randy’s birthday. This confluence of holidays isn’t going to get easier for me and my boys, but it is the way it is. This past year, on the Saturday between Randy’s birthday (Friday), and Father’s Day (Sunday), I was reading through the first chapter of James: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds…”
What?!
Pure joy?!
I was right in the middle of a trial, and I wouldn’t have immediately thought to consider it pure joy.
But as I thought about it, I realized something. James is not saying, “Look at the trial and feel happy.” No! He knows the visceral emotion partnered with trials is sorrow, not joy. But he says, “Consider it pure joy.” He’s referencing the intensity, not the exclusivity, of the joy. He is not saying, “Have only joy.” He’s saying, “Have the fullness of joy too.” Intensity, not exclusivity. This is important.
James is us to consider trials from a new perspective. First, see the hard, have sorrow, yes, of course. This has to the be the case; otherwise, we would be something less than human. The Psalms teach us this lesson beautifully and poignantly. They are filled with examples of people realistically facing their suffering with deep faith and worship, through lament and anger. Worship doesn’t somehow obliterate suffering. Instead, suffering becomes a vehicle for transformative worship, or maybe better, it becomes the sacrifice the psalmist brings in worship. We have to be aware of our visceral emotions in trials. But we also have to consider the trials from another perspective: the fullness of joy—heaven.
Each time I consider Randy and heaven and Jesus, my perspective shifts. When I think about heaven, I worry less about what people think of me. When I think about heaven, I think of the hope of a day where tears won’t be necessary and death will be no more. When I think about heaven, I think more of loving others than finding love myself.
When I think about heaven, I think more of what God values: kindness over comparison, celebration over envy, reconciliation over being right, eternal treasure over material toys, listening over needing to be heard, and love over self-consciousness. When I think about heaven, I start to understand what James says about “not lacking anything.” It’s all going to be there.
Consider a season of trials in your past. Ask God how He has used it to grow you more into His likeness. If nothing comes quickly, don’t look away—look at Him. Even if you don’t have an answer, you have Him.
Heavenly Father, help us to turn to You with our pain. Remind us of who You are as we let perseverance finish its work in us. Make us more like you Jesus. Amen.
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”
Romans 5:3-4 (NIV)
Megan Fate Marshman is a disciple, Mom, hope sharer, joy spreader, and proclaimer of Christ. Grab Megan’s newest book Relaxed: Walking with the One Who Is Not Worried about a Thing and Bible study guide with
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