So you wake up this morning and your spouse gives you a big kiss and tells you how much they love you. You go out into the kitchen and your children are already up, they have cleaned their room and made you and the entire family breakfast. As you all sit down at the table your teenager looks up and says “Oh hold on a minute I forgot I have my cell phone in my pocket, I better put it away - because I don’t want to miss any of our family time.
After breakfast you check your bank account real quick and see that you have enough in the bank to not only pay all of your bills and have $3,000 leftover.
On your way to work you get a text from your in laws saying “I just wanted to check in and tell you what a great parent you are to my Grandkids … I’m so thankful to have you in my life”.
This scenario pretty much sums up every day of your life doesn't it ….NOPE not in the least.
This looks more like an episode of the 1950’s Leave it to Beaver TV show than the family you and I live in.
Reality is, life is not perfect. We have problems. We all have problems.
We have Big problems - small problems - marital problems - kid problems - money problems - in law - ex law and sometimes - out law problems. We have problems that were caused by someone else and problems that were caused because of something stupid that we did. We all have problems - we all have trials - we all have tribulations - and tough days.
This is life. This is real life. This is our life.
One of the things I love about the Bible is it gives the real and raw - of life - it doesn't sugar coat it or paint some picture of this perfect utopia …. no the Bible reveals a very real picture of imperfect people with a lot of problems.
People in the bible with real, raw problems.
Moses, who was once a prince of Egypt - now finds himself herding sheep in the desert.
Joseph, has brothers don’t like him - he gets sold as a slave and not finds himself rotting in a prison for something he didn't even do.
Paul, switches teams and goes on Gods side - once he makes the trade - things go from bad to worse he gets beaten - hauled off to prison - shipwrecked on Island - bitten by snake - and spends the rest of his life in a roman prison.
Jesus, comes to the earth, his motives are constantly questioned - he is betrayed by one of his best friends - then he gets crucified on a cross.
Just like us, these very good people, had problems. In fact they had a lot of problems.
So how did they handle them?
How should we handle them?
What is the correct way to view the trials, test, and problems that we face?
Scripture teaches us in James 1:2-4 - 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.
Lets sit on this for a minute and break this passage down
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds”
James says to not only count it joy but to count it PURE joy. Pure is unadulterated. Pure is perfect. So James is telling us to count it pure unadulterated perfect joy when you face trials - tough times - and problems. This goes so contrary to how we think ….
God says:
Have Pure Joy - when your car breaks down
Have pure joy when your friend betrays you
have pure joy when money is tight
have pure joy when stress is piling up at work
have pure joy when the terrible twos have stretched into the terrible teens
How in the world is this possible?
Well lets look at the next part of that passage.
“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.”
We know the testing of our faith - problems bring perseverance and perseverance brings maturity.
If we are honest we already know that when negative things happen to us they have the potential to shape us and make us better. We already know this personally, but its is just a whole lot easier when it happens to someone else
I remember sitting on the sideline watching my son Logan practicing on his 8th grade football team. At the end of every practice the coach would make the kids run and run and run. The kids are crying, barely making it in, and coach says, Give me another down and back. And as I’m sitting on my lawn chair watching them run, I’m thinking to myself, boy this is so hard for them, but this is so good for them. This is going to get them into shape.
But then I would go out and run and within 5 minutes I’m huffing and puffing, I’m sweating profusely, I’m barely breathing and I say to myself this is tough - I’m done - one lap - that is good enough for me.
You see when we look at someone else life - or some else’s situation - it is so easy for us to see the good that will come out of these tough times. Obviously we know that positive things come out of the negative situations.
When their money is tight - they will learn how to save for rainy day
When their heart gets broken - they will learn to go more slowly next time
When their working grueling hours at work - they will discover that hard works brings more money.
It is easy for us to see all of these truths when THEY are going through the tough time. But listen to the passage in James again …
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.
In reading this we do not find any THEY … but we find a whole lot of YOU.
God, being a good God wants you to be mature - complete and wanting for nothing
so maybe must maybe as difficult and as frustrating as it seems
maybe these negative things are actually positive for you … after all.
All throughout the scriptures we see that God uses the trials and tough times of our life to be for our benefit. Even though I know that God is not the author of the bad situation … if we walk thru the trial, the problem correctly, He can take the negative and turn it into a positive.
Lets take a look at those real and raw problems that the Bible folks had …
Moses, who was once a prince of Egypt - now finds himself herding sheep in the desert. But eventually God meets Moses in the desert and sends him back to Egypt to set his people free.
Joseph, has brothers don’t like him - his Dad is ticked at him - he gets sold as a slave and not finds himself rotting in a prison for something he didn't even do. He stays in the prison for years, only to be released to interpret the Pharaohs dream, become number two in all of Egypt and save his family from starving during a famine.
Paul - switches teams and goes on Gods side - once he makes the trade - things go from bad to worse he gets beaten - hauled off to prison - shipwrecked on Island - bitten by snake - and spends the rest of his life in a roman prison. God meets with Paul while in prison and he writes letters to inspire surrounding christian churches, and us today as well.
Jesus - his motives were constantly questioned - he is betrayed by one of best friends - then he gets crucified on a cross. Three days after his death, Jesus raises from the dead to become the redeemer of all mankind.
All throughout scriptures we see that God will use the trials and tough times of our life not only for our short term benefit, but for the long term benefit of others. When tough times come our way, the truth is there is more happening than we think.
With this is mind, maybe we should look at the problems we are going through in a different way.