JAMES 1:2 – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”
THEME OF THE DAY. HOW DO WE OBEY THE HARD COMMANDS? We know God gives commandments that are hard to obey. Here is a nice list to start with – “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18a). While we are making a list, let’s add two more hard commandments for us to obey – “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38). And one more to finalize the list. It is today’s scripture – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2).
Actually, these commands, and all commandments from the Lord are not only hard to obey, but impossible. We simply do not have the ability to obey. Any and all obedience requires power outside of ourselves. We may, and will as Christians, desire to obey God’s commandments out of love, but the weakness of our flesh prevents us from a consistency of obeying. But God doesn’t leave us without help. His Spirit is given to believers to shape their lives to be like Christ and empower them to obey God’s commandments. However, that doesn’t mean we sit back and let God live the Christian life for us. He will not obey for us. In some mysterious yet harmonious way, God’s enabling grace and our acts of the will are two necessary elements of obedience. This truth is illustrated by the Apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians – “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
So, with the truths God empowers us to obey, and we resolve to obey, how may we consistently obey today’s scripture – “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” There are really two starting points; realize the brevity of life making trials short and knowing our proper response, counting it all joy in trials, glorifies God. These are foundational to our obeying the command to count it all joy in our trials. And these beginning points are articulated well by a letter the 17th century man of God, John Newton, wrote to a friend . . .
“For if I am redeemed from misery by the blood of Jesus; and if He is now preparing me a mansion near Himself, that I may drink of the rivers of pleasure at His right hand for evermore; the question is not how may I pass through life with the least inconvenience? But, how may my little span of life be made most subservient to the praise and glory of Him who loved me, and gave Himself for me?”
Remember, our trials only occur in our little span of life and they are designed to bring praise and glory to God. Realizing the brevity of life, and God’s glory in all things of our lives enables us to obey this hard command as it is stated – with joy!
PRAYER: Father, help me to see all of life is about You and Your glory, not me and my desires.
REFLECTION: Learning that life is all about drawing attention to the Lord frees us from the bondage of self.