SCRIPTURE: James 1:2-4 NLT 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.
THOUGHT: Has anyone else thought this verse was just plain crazy? Joy? In the face of trial, hardship, things that don’t go well? And not just a little joy – pure joy. The kind of joy you felt as a kid, swimming on a hot summer day. Playing another game of kick-the-can after the sun set and the stars came out. Eating because your little body was so hungry, and everything tasted so good.
Only the kind of joy James asks us to consider is not joy in the moment, it’s an act of faith. Like Jesus endured for the joy set before him (Heb. 12:2), we endure testing of our faith because of something ahead of us. That’s how we learn to persevere – and persistence in faith is like the little drops of rain that make a tree grow out of a rock.
PRAYER: Press On https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ipUm9LiBW0
PRAYER: God, I confess I don’t look forward to the life events that teach perseverance. But the thought of being mature and complete, of not lacking anything, does make me smile. Give me courage to press on.
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