Being Joyful in Trials

James 1: 2 - 8 (NIV): 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

    What if the Bible said we would never experience hardship once we became followers of Christ? We would know it is not true. But, instead, it says we will face trials and have trouble. Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33). 

   James tells us here that the trials we face are for a reason: They make us mature, they make us like Christ. I wish there was a shortcut to maturity, but there just isn't. Jesus was familiar with suffering and we will be too if we belong to him. God allows trials because they increase our perseverance and our faith. This is why we can be joyful, even in hard times, because we know we are becoming more and more like Christ. It's painful at the time, but it is reassuring to know that everything is working for our own good, even if we don't understand it at the time.

    Wisdom is the practical use of knowledge. Being wise will take us far in life and we get wisdom from God. James says to ask God for it and we will receive it. But it takes faith to believe God will answer. The stronger our faith, then, the more we will be able to ask from God and receive it. This is why we can be joyful when God is building our faith.

Go for the Gold!

1 Corinthians 9: 24 - 27 (NIV): 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

    Paul is not talking about earning our salvation or keeping it by works, he's talking about being the best Christian we can be. Pushing ourselves to be more and more like Christ. He uses the illustration of a race. It takes hard work to win a race and it takes hard work to push ourselves to be the best followers of Christ we can be.

     I have enjoyed watching the remarkable athletes in this year's Winter Olympics. They do things I didn't know were possible. I didn't know a person could jump backward off of a ramp going down a ski hill, then continue to the next ramp backward and jump off of it too, spinning in the air and landing perfectly upright and backward. I would kill myself if I tried that. And they do get hurt at times, but they are dedicated. They train and practice hour after hour, over and over again. They are disciplined. They get up and keep going. Paul says in Philippians 3, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize.”

     The winner may only beat his competition by a milli-second, so he must push himself. He must be focused on the prize and not get distracted. And he must know the rules and follow them so he is not disqualified. Jesus says we are wise if we hear him and do what he says. In your walk with Christ, don't be ordinary. Go for the gold!

The Goal of Your Faith

1 Peter 1: 3 - 9 (NIV): 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We've been born again. Peter says God has given us a living, dynamic hope that carries us each and every day. It's a hope that we will be resurrected, just like Jesus was. It is a hope that this life is not all there is. We have glimpsed paradise, but we know we are not there yet. Because of God's mercy and Jesus' sacrifice, we will reach paradise again. And it is kept safe by God's power. He's not going to lose us or forget about us.

    For now, though, we have to suffer sometimes. Peter says these trials make our faith stronger. Faith isn't faith until we use it. If we never needed faith, how would we know it was real? And if we never used our faith, it would never get stronger so we could handle more and more. Faith is like a muscle; we have to use to make it stronger. And a strong faith brings glory to God.

    Peter undoubtedly remembered Jesus' words, that we are blessed if we believe in Jesus, even though we don't see him. That's what faith is. Peter got to see Jesus, but he realized we didn't. He said we are blessed if we believe based on the apostle's testimony and our own faith. And one day we will receive the goal of that faith, salvation.

The Fall of Man

Genesis 3: 4 - 7 (NIV): 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

  Why didn't God just make everything wonderful from the start? Why all the suffering, death, frustration and separation? He did. He created us to live in paradise, but paradise was lost. One day it will be restored, but for now we live in a fallen world.

     God knew all along that we would choose knowledge over blissful ignorance. We had to. We had to because God didn't create us to be puppets, robots or pets, he created us to be his children. But the knowledge of good and evil cost us our innocence and it caused a lifespan of suffering, mixed with moments of great pleasure and satisfaction. We live with the hope of paradise - and with tastes of it, but the knowledge that we are not there yet.

     Satan tempted Adam and Eve and they fell for it. He attacked them where they were most vulnerable and that's what he still does. He never fights fair. Adam should have protected his wife, but failed to do so. Notice the passage says he was with her. Eve should have obeyed what God told her and not listened to temptation. They were equally guilty and they were both cast from the garden of paradise. 

    I'm glad the Bible doesn't end here. Instead it tells us how we can return to paradise by allowing Jesus to remove the curse and restore us to fellowship with God. The serpent struck Jesus' heal, but Jesus crushed its head. Paradise is ours for the taking, but we can only go back to it by faith.