"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."
Count it all JOY when we meet trials? For real? We are supposed to be joyful when trials come our way. I have been using The Bible Knowledge Commentary to go through this book of the Bible (which was referred to me long ago by a friend who has her own blog here). The Commentary pointed out that a test (or trial) is given to see if a student can pass, not to see if the student can pass out. Trials are not put in our lives to kill us or make us grow faint, they are given to us so that we can pass them with triumph if we go in with the right attitude and focus. Through trials we are tested, and if go through them with endurance and a focus on Christ, we may become "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." And that is a promise.
It is so true that trials change us, either for the good or the bad. And it is definitely true that our attitude towards the trial usually determines whether we are changed for the good or the bad. Trials make us stronger. They teach us perseverance and endurance and patience and all kinds of other things. Whether your trial is trying to pass the bar exam and go through hours of studying, dealing with a friend or family member who is sick, being sick yourself, having issues with your parents, having issues with your kids, having issues with your spouse, having issues at your job, and the list can go on and on. Whatever the trial that has been put in your life - face it with JOY! Because if you do, when you come out of it, you not only will be stronger in your faith, but you will be able to see that you would not have been able to make it through that trial in such a way without God's help and His name can be glorified through it.
Now, you may ask, how do I face my trial with joy...well James seemed to know that we would ask that question. He states that if any of us lacks wisdom, we just need to ask God for it and God will generally give it. But when we ask, we should not doubt - we must ask with faith and assurance. As stated so well in the commentary, "To have the right attitude in trials, one must see the advantage of trials. If that is hard, one can ask for aid and if asked correctly, God will give you the right attitude." Life is all about our attitude towards it, and if we are having a hard time getting the right attitude, we just need to ask God to adjust our attitude and we need to focus on Him and what He has given us in life and brought into our life and what this trial can do to our life and how it can glorify God (I know - super run on sentence).
Finally, James tells us that temptations, which are different from trials, do not come from God. God allows situational trials to come into our lives to make us stronger, but God never tempts us to do evil. God cannot do so. Temptation comes from within each of us when we are enticed to live by our own desires. We are children of the devil and God will adopt us as His children when we come to Him and commit our lives to Him. But that does not get rid of our "biological" sinful desires. Those will remain in us. God helps us overcome them when we turn to Him, but we will always have the desire to turn away from Him if it is completely up to us. Thus, we need to keep in mind that temptations are from us and not from God, and when our desires of this world are trying to overtake us, we must turn to God and focus on Him. For as the end of this passage points out, God is our constant. He does not change. There is no variation or shadow of change in Him. He is constant, unlike anything else in our lives. He is the one we can depend on in all situations and the one who can lead us through it.
No comments:
Post a Comment