James 1:2-4 “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.”
“Count it all joy!” Not what we want to hear when we are facing a trial! But it is what we need to hear! Trials come in all kinds of ways, from all kinds of places, prompted from all kinds of people, in all kinds of forms. Trials are not picky or selective. They sort of go with the flow, just as long as they can flow toward you! The bottom line is that trials are a part of life and always will be.
Since it is true that trials will constantly greet us through life, we must greet them when they arrive in proper fashion. If not, we will crumble under their weight! Count it all joy! That is, consider every single part and bit of this trial as an occasion for joy! The stress, the heartache, the back-stabbing, the crushing blow, the resulting fallout, everything; count it ALL joy!
How? Are we as Christians supposed to live “in the real world” as if trials do not affect us? As if they do not matter? No! Actually, we are to live as if they do matter! In fact, they matter tremendously in terms of our relation to God! The source of our joy in the trial is to know that trials are not haphazard accidents, but rather God is over and in control of our trials, and He is guiding us through them for our good and His glory! Trials do what nothing else can do as quickly or as greatly; trials conform us to Christ! Count it all joy, my dear friend, because God is shaping you and preparing you because He is going to use you, and you are going to glorify Him!
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