*just starting this blog so I am posting a short devotional I had to write for a summer class
The first phrase in James chapter one
verse two, Consider it all joy, is often quoted by well meaning
Christians as a means of comforting themselves or others who are in
the midst of difficult and trying circumstances in life. The problem,
more often than not , with the person offering the biblical counsel
and the poor person receiving the Scriptural call to joy in the midst
of suffering is this: the emotions seen and the emotions felt do not
seem to match with what the Bible seems to be saying. “Consider it
all joy, my brothers, whenever you encounter various kinds of
trials.” It is gross misunderstanding and misapplication of this
verse to think of yourself as sub-christian or spiritually immature
if you are not smiling at a family members funeral. James is not
calling followers of Jesus Christ to drum up feelings of joy in each
and every situation in life. In fact, you are strange if you do. A
proper understanding of the word consider will help us in our
understanding of this verse.
The word for consider in Greek is
ēgeomai. It can
mean think, consider, or deduce. So the focus of the word ēgeomai
is on our mind and not our emotions. James is commanding followers of
Jesus Christ to have an overall attitude that thinks or considers
trials to be joy. It is important to note that all does not mean
every situation but is being used as an adjective describing joy. So
this command to consider( ēgeomai)
is a general call to think of the difficult times in life as joy. It
is definitely important to understand the distinction between
thinking and feeling and to understand what James is saying and what
he is not saying. You need not think of yourself as a “loser”
Christian because you feel anger, sadness, or some other negative
emotion when life is knocking you down, but we are to consider these
times all joy, but why? It may seem to you that thinking of trials as
joy is just as crazy as feeling.
We consider it all joy because of what
trials produce in our lives. The joy is not the trial but the knowing
(ginōskō) what
walking through trials will bring to fruition in our lives. This may
be hard to swallow but God's purpose for us is not to always be happy
in this world. His purpose is infinitely more lofty. He wants you to
be mature and complete not lacking in anything and for some reason He
has ordained that trials are one of the means through which this
purpose is accomplished.
According
to James, trials produce endurance and we are to let endurance have
it's full effect. Why? So we can be mature, complete, and whole.
James chose to use the word teleioi
to
describe the result of letting endurance have it's full effect.
Teleioi means
free from any defiiciency, omission, or corruption, or complete or
perfect. We are not going to be complete and perfect in this life,
but we can know that at the end of each trial, if we heed the words
of James, we will be one step closer to that future reality.
Knowing
that trials will bring us one step closer to being mature and
complete will not change how emotions feel but it can change how we
think of various trials. No athlete enjoys the pain of offseason
conditioning when they are experiencing the pain brought about by
countless reps in the weight room and sprints in the gymnasium, but
they sure do reap the benefits come game time. We are not going to
feel joy in the midst of trials but we can think of them with an
attitude of joy knowing that we will reap the benefits.
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