Joy in Suffering
A short message by E.H.Jackson
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because
you know that the testing of your faith develops steadfastness. Steadfastness must
finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
(James 1:2-4)
The viewpoint of a Christian is radically different from that of the unbeliever, the doubter or the skeptic. We have experienced a radical transformation by God's grace, which makes us alive to spiritual things, alive to God and alive to the truth. We no longer have to look at life, or it's difficulties, with a defeated attitude, because salvation is not just a fire escape out of hell. It is radical new way for us to live on earth now! James is showing the radical effect Jesus Christ has made in our lives and in our thinking here and now.
In a nutshell he says that the goal of the Christian life, here and now, is to be "mature and complete, not lacking in any thing"(Jas 1:4). This is not talking about fairy tales, or about the life hereafter when we get to heaven. It is talking about how believers should think when, for instance, they face various kinds of severe trials! James says, Joy should overtake us, because we know that we are being made conformable to the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ the Master suffered, then His servants will suffer also. Sufferings and trials make us steadfast, perfect and complete, so that we will lack nothing!
The worldly mind cannot comprehend this. And that is exactly why many so-called Christians are totally screwed up in their thinking about their human difficulties. They bring the worlds thinking to church with them. They have not learned how to think like Christians. They allow the unbelief and doubt of the faithless, to interpret their experiences for them, rather than to think like a new creation. They think just like the lost and say "woe is me". They feel sorry for themselves. They pout. They complain. They question and doubt. They murmur against God. They sound just like the unbelievers in their hateful and godless speech. All of which expresses unbelief and immaturity. It is not the way Christians should think at all. In fact, that kind of thinking and speech is not Christian at all. If you cannot align your thinking and your speech with God's viewpoint, then you really are not a Christian at all. You should be examining yourself, whether or not you are actually in the faith. If you are a child of God, then you will learn to think like God thinks. But if you persist in anti-Christian viewpoints, then you need to repent and seek salvation from yourself. You are so full of yourself, that you cannot align your foolish brain with God's thoughts. Christians on the other hand have the mind of Christ (1Cor. 2:16).
I met a person one time who claimed to be a Christian, but who ran everywhere decrying the idea that God is glorified in our sicknesses and infirmities, as well as in all things. This person said "how on earth could sickness ever glorify God?" "Sickness, is from the Devil, not from God", they said. "God wants his children to be well, not sick". "God wants only the best for His children, and if we are sick it is our own fault". They would go on and on along these shallow lines of thinking, and in my opinion, they were committing blasphemy every step of the way. That is unsaved speech. It originates in the bowels of hell, and not from Jesus Christ.
The Bible is unmistakable in it's teaching that God is sovereign over all things, and in all circumstances of life. That person, had a warped and twisted view of God, because he had a God created from his own brain, and his ideas were no different than those of every other lost man on earth. He created a mythological God that would shower him in good things, and never allow any wind of adversity to come his way. That's fiction, pure and simple. Of course God causes evil things, and not just good things. He is the universal sovereign, and even Satan can do nothing apart from God's perfect and all-comprehensive will. Ask Job if God ever sends Christians sickness?
Christians have many difficulties, trials, struggles, sicknesses and hardships in this life. So do most lost people. Yes there are a few privileged people who seem inordinately blessed, but that does not concern us here. James is speaking about those of us, who are normal and fall into troubles and trials. That includes almost every believer. The difference between us, and the rest of the world however, is how we look at our situation. Do we look at our sufferings with doubt, disparagement and despair? or do we interpret them with the Divine viewpoint of saved and enlightened people, who are completely informed by the gospel and the Bible? The latter is supposed to be the case.
The lost, deny the true causes and solutions to life's problems, because they love darkness and hate God. The saved, on the other hand, accepts the truth about the causes and solutions to life's problems, because they know the truth and they love the God who causes everything. That is a radical difference between us and them. We know the truth, because we know Christ. We interpret life in the light of the word of God, so that events, struggles and difficulties are not about us, they are about God's work in us. To believers, the Bible says "all things work together for Good"(Romans 8:28). God knows how to speak perfectly, and that means precisely what it says! It is not just "some things" that are good for us. It is "all things". God ought to know, because He is the one who says so and He is the one who ordains everything. There is no other authority on these matters. If you disbelieve God, then you are a devil and not a Christian.
When you get diagnosed with cancer or heart disease, or when you become a cripple, or you lose your life savings, your home, or something else formidable happens, you should never ask..."Why did God allow this to happen to me?" That question is pure blasphemy, because it assumes that God must explains something to you. Who are you that you think you can question God? "Why did God allow this to happen to me?" You know the answer, and that makes the question an insult to God and an expression of Satanic unbelief. God caused your particular trouble, for your own good! and for His own glory. If you cannot say that, and if you do not embrace it, then you are worshiping yourself and not God. If you worship Him, then you must acknowledge him in all things. If you worship Him then you will, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6). In all your ways, in all the ways your life takes, you must acknowledge Him, not presume to rebuke Him, question Him or doubt Him.
The Christian life is all about faith. "Without faith it impossible to please God" (Heb 11:6). Faith is the currency of heaven. When Christ was on earth, he praised those who had faith, and He castigated and spoke harshly to the religious crowd who were full of themselves and who lived by do-goodism, all of whose interests were self-centered and proud. Those with faith received great blessings from the master, and those who operated in the flesh, received the plain acknowledgement that they were "of their Father the Devil", because all their works were the very works that He does. Satan is in fact quite religious, and he loves to go to church and sit on committees and boards. Faith operates on the idea that God can do whatever He wants to do, and nothing is impossible with God. Faith operates on the basis of fact not fiction, that's why Job refused to curse God and die, as his religious wife and friends wanted him to do. Job said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). That's because job aligned himself with the Divine viewpoint, and refused to entertain the human viewpoints of unbelief and worldly thinking.
This wonderful passage in James shows us that sufferings and trials, are very good things for us. They teach us about faith. They teach us about the power and righteousness of God. They teach us about true humility, not about the false pride that wells up in unbelievers making them full of themselves, and full of their own self-righteousness. Believers count it all joy, when their faith is tried. If you don't think like that, then you need a mental attitude adjustment. You need to go to the cross and get your brain re-made. Ask God to free you from your addiction to yourself, and make you addicted only to Jesus Christ.
© 2012 EHJ
Permission is granted to use this article in it's entirety only, without any changes, on any website or blog, as long as the author is correctly identified and a direct link is made from the article back to this website. If you use this article on your website or blog please CLICK HERE to send us the link to the article.
you know that the testing of your faith develops steadfastness. Steadfastness must
finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
(James 1:2-4)
The viewpoint of a Christian is radically different from that of the unbeliever, the doubter or the skeptic. We have experienced a radical transformation by God's grace, which makes us alive to spiritual things, alive to God and alive to the truth. We no longer have to look at life, or it's difficulties, with a defeated attitude, because salvation is not just a fire escape out of hell. It is radical new way for us to live on earth now! James is showing the radical effect Jesus Christ has made in our lives and in our thinking here and now.
In a nutshell he says that the goal of the Christian life, here and now, is to be "mature and complete, not lacking in any thing"(Jas 1:4). This is not talking about fairy tales, or about the life hereafter when we get to heaven. It is talking about how believers should think when, for instance, they face various kinds of severe trials! James says, Joy should overtake us, because we know that we are being made conformable to the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ the Master suffered, then His servants will suffer also. Sufferings and trials make us steadfast, perfect and complete, so that we will lack nothing!
The worldly mind cannot comprehend this. And that is exactly why many so-called Christians are totally screwed up in their thinking about their human difficulties. They bring the worlds thinking to church with them. They have not learned how to think like Christians. They allow the unbelief and doubt of the faithless, to interpret their experiences for them, rather than to think like a new creation. They think just like the lost and say "woe is me". They feel sorry for themselves. They pout. They complain. They question and doubt. They murmur against God. They sound just like the unbelievers in their hateful and godless speech. All of which expresses unbelief and immaturity. It is not the way Christians should think at all. In fact, that kind of thinking and speech is not Christian at all. If you cannot align your thinking and your speech with God's viewpoint, then you really are not a Christian at all. You should be examining yourself, whether or not you are actually in the faith. If you are a child of God, then you will learn to think like God thinks. But if you persist in anti-Christian viewpoints, then you need to repent and seek salvation from yourself. You are so full of yourself, that you cannot align your foolish brain with God's thoughts. Christians on the other hand have the mind of Christ (1Cor. 2:16).
I met a person one time who claimed to be a Christian, but who ran everywhere decrying the idea that God is glorified in our sicknesses and infirmities, as well as in all things. This person said "how on earth could sickness ever glorify God?" "Sickness, is from the Devil, not from God", they said. "God wants his children to be well, not sick". "God wants only the best for His children, and if we are sick it is our own fault". They would go on and on along these shallow lines of thinking, and in my opinion, they were committing blasphemy every step of the way. That is unsaved speech. It originates in the bowels of hell, and not from Jesus Christ.
The Bible is unmistakable in it's teaching that God is sovereign over all things, and in all circumstances of life. That person, had a warped and twisted view of God, because he had a God created from his own brain, and his ideas were no different than those of every other lost man on earth. He created a mythological God that would shower him in good things, and never allow any wind of adversity to come his way. That's fiction, pure and simple. Of course God causes evil things, and not just good things. He is the universal sovereign, and even Satan can do nothing apart from God's perfect and all-comprehensive will. Ask Job if God ever sends Christians sickness?
Christians have many difficulties, trials, struggles, sicknesses and hardships in this life. So do most lost people. Yes there are a few privileged people who seem inordinately blessed, but that does not concern us here. James is speaking about those of us, who are normal and fall into troubles and trials. That includes almost every believer. The difference between us, and the rest of the world however, is how we look at our situation. Do we look at our sufferings with doubt, disparagement and despair? or do we interpret them with the Divine viewpoint of saved and enlightened people, who are completely informed by the gospel and the Bible? The latter is supposed to be the case.
The lost, deny the true causes and solutions to life's problems, because they love darkness and hate God. The saved, on the other hand, accepts the truth about the causes and solutions to life's problems, because they know the truth and they love the God who causes everything. That is a radical difference between us and them. We know the truth, because we know Christ. We interpret life in the light of the word of God, so that events, struggles and difficulties are not about us, they are about God's work in us. To believers, the Bible says "all things work together for Good"(Romans 8:28). God knows how to speak perfectly, and that means precisely what it says! It is not just "some things" that are good for us. It is "all things". God ought to know, because He is the one who says so and He is the one who ordains everything. There is no other authority on these matters. If you disbelieve God, then you are a devil and not a Christian.
When you get diagnosed with cancer or heart disease, or when you become a cripple, or you lose your life savings, your home, or something else formidable happens, you should never ask..."Why did God allow this to happen to me?" That question is pure blasphemy, because it assumes that God must explains something to you. Who are you that you think you can question God? "Why did God allow this to happen to me?" You know the answer, and that makes the question an insult to God and an expression of Satanic unbelief. God caused your particular trouble, for your own good! and for His own glory. If you cannot say that, and if you do not embrace it, then you are worshiping yourself and not God. If you worship Him, then you must acknowledge him in all things. If you worship Him then you will, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6). In all your ways, in all the ways your life takes, you must acknowledge Him, not presume to rebuke Him, question Him or doubt Him.
The Christian life is all about faith. "Without faith it impossible to please God" (Heb 11:6). Faith is the currency of heaven. When Christ was on earth, he praised those who had faith, and He castigated and spoke harshly to the religious crowd who were full of themselves and who lived by do-goodism, all of whose interests were self-centered and proud. Those with faith received great blessings from the master, and those who operated in the flesh, received the plain acknowledgement that they were "of their Father the Devil", because all their works were the very works that He does. Satan is in fact quite religious, and he loves to go to church and sit on committees and boards. Faith operates on the idea that God can do whatever He wants to do, and nothing is impossible with God. Faith operates on the basis of fact not fiction, that's why Job refused to curse God and die, as his religious wife and friends wanted him to do. Job said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). That's because job aligned himself with the Divine viewpoint, and refused to entertain the human viewpoints of unbelief and worldly thinking.
This wonderful passage in James shows us that sufferings and trials, are very good things for us. They teach us about faith. They teach us about the power and righteousness of God. They teach us about true humility, not about the false pride that wells up in unbelievers making them full of themselves, and full of their own self-righteousness. Believers count it all joy, when their faith is tried. If you don't think like that, then you need a mental attitude adjustment. You need to go to the cross and get your brain re-made. Ask God to free you from your addiction to yourself, and make you addicted only to Jesus Christ.
© 2012 EHJ
Permission is granted to use this article in it's entirety only, without any changes, on any website or blog, as long as the author is correctly identified and a direct link is made from the article back to this website. If you use this article on your website or blog please CLICK HERE to send us the link to the article.
