Joy

Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4 HCSB

I don’t know about you, but I find it difficult to embrace the great joy that I’m supposed to find in the trials of life. You won’t normally find me saying, “It looks like I’m getting ready to go through some hard times! Isn’t it wonderful! I’m so glad that my faith is being tested because I know that faith produces endurance! Yippee!”

However, going through times of faith testing is good for us. It helps build up our spiritual endurance for future situations in which we will find ourselves. When a runner trains for a marathon, the rigorous training time is important to build up the endurance he needs to make it the full 26 miles on the day of the race. In a similar fashion, we must view our spiritual trials as a positive experience, meant to help us increase our faith to higher levels of endurance.

Lord, help us see the joy that can come from the struggles of life.