Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. James 1:2-3
I recently heard the story of a 6-year-old boy named Ethan. Ethan has cystic fibrosis and, as a result, has never been able to walk. For six years of his life, Ethan was carried everywhere. This was his life until he got his wheelchair. Now, to many, being limited to a wheelchair would not be cause for celebration, but when Ethan got his wheelchair, his face lit up with the biggest smile. He was so excited because this wheelchair brought him mobility opportunities to grow in ways he had never been able to grow before. He could now be in charge of where he wanted to go by steering his wheelchair. I have not been able to stop thinking about Ethan's story. I want to be more like Ethan during my storms. My friend, where we see limitations, God sees new opportunities for growth if we would only take time to look for them.
James, the writer of the book of James, makes a bold statement in the very first chapter of his letter. "When troubles of any kind come your way," he writes, "consider it an opportunity for great joy" (verse 2). If you are like me, you are wondering how anyone can consider storms and trials of any kind cause for joy. James must have known we would ask that question because he tells us why in the very next verse. "For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow" (verse 2). What is James reminding us? Trials make us grow. They grow our faith in ways that calm days never do. They remind us that we depend on God and that He is the one in control, not us. It is because of this that James tells us to consider storms an opportunity "for great joy."
These words from James are true for you today. Consider your storms an opportunity for joy. This includes pandemics, health issues, financial trials, uncertainty, and any other trial you can think of. God is going to use your storms to help you grow. What is true about life is that growth is very important. In fact, it is vital. Are you right in the middle of a storm today? Be encouraged, my friend. God often does His best work when we are navigating the storms of life.
Write about the storm you are currently facing in your life in your journal or notebook. After writing down that situation, write down James 1:2-3. Next, write down opportunities for growth that the situation has brought about in your life. My friends, God uses even our darkest days to produce good and make us grow.
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.
Greetings!
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.
God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
