It's Harder Than it Looks

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4, NIV).

I feel that James is talking about persecution in our everyday life, but I also believe that it can be applied to our spiritual journey as well. We can consider our struggles to follow the will of God in our life a joy. That seems like an oxymoron, but I truly believe that when our hearts are in tune to God's will and Satan and the world around us bombards us to turn away from God, we can consider it joyful. As the old saying goes: If you aren't being hounded by the world then perhaps you are just like the world.

But still one thing continues to bother me: James seems to give the impression that this will be easy. He does use the word perseverance, which is something that is very rare in today's society. Perseverance means "steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement" (dictionary.com). But perseverance is much easier encouraged than actually done. But again, there is the saying: Anything worth anything is hard work. (Boy, I'm full of phrases this morning.)

So, here's the thing. When the world around us is striving for us to satisfy our sinful nature we will need to dig in our heals and persevere through our faith in Christ. There is no easy way around it. The more you persevere the more our sinful nature will rear its ugly head which means the more we will have to persevere.

Thankfully, the following verses in James 1 give us hope. "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him" (James 1:12, NIV).