04 October 2005 Devotion for Today “Count it All Joy” James 1:2-4
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4)
Krispy Kreme donuts are all the rage right now. Many of us have tasted them. Some people will line up and wait for hours to purchase these sweet delights. Let me tell you about the process that leads to a Krispy Kreme donut. Years ago I had the opportunity to visit a Krispy Kreme donut factory. The tour guide pointed to the process where we could see everything that was going on through plate-glass windows. The first thing we saw was a conveyor belt moving hundreds of little balls of dough. Then the little balls of dough are shot through with a piercing blast of hot air to create a hole. Then they go into the proof box where they ride up and down an elevator in an atmosphere of heat and humidity. This causes the dough to rise. After this, they are dropped into hot oil and boiled thoroughly. After surviving this ordeal, the donuts pass through a cascading waterfall of icing.
Does anyone here today feel like a Krispy Kreme? Do you feel like you have been blasted with hot air? (perhaps that is how my church members feel after leaving church each Sunday) Do you feel like you have been boiled in oil? Do you feel like you are carried away like those dough balls on the conveyor belt on a journey that is out of your control? Well, remember that these experiences precede the sweet delight that follows. None of us look forward to trials. None of us love hardship. But without them, we will never enjoy the sweet fruit of maturity. A Billy Graham said, “Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys.” Today, as we begin our study of James, we are going to look at the sweet fruit of bitter times.
First, a word about James. He refers to himself as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is most certainly the same James who was the half brother
of Jesus. Although not a follower of Jesus while Jesus conducted His public ministry, James was an eyewitness of the resurrection as Paul says in I Corinthians 15:7 “After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.” James was a leader-if not the pastor- in the early
variety of subjects which describe how to live an upright life. It has much in common with the Sermon on the Mount, discussing such subjects as taking oaths, the tongue, and how to be peacemakers.
James does not lose much time discussing what is first on his heart, and that is how a Christian ought to behave when he is confronted with trials. What are trials? Quite honestly, a trial for me is an adverse condition- when things are not going the way I want them to. The term is used to speak of afflictions and adversities that we encounter in life. These trials are of various kinds. It could be illness, financial reverses, problems at work, persecution for our faith, etc. And they come in all shapes and sizes. And sometimes our response to them are much bigger than the trial itself- perhaps creating a worse trial for ourselves than we might otherwise have had.
Its interesting that James says, “Consider it pure joy.” Pure means unmixed- Not part joy and part something else, but pure joy. It seems quite unnatural for our attitude toward trials to be pure joy. Even now as I am writing this I accidentally spilled my coffee on the table and almost onto my laptop keyboard. The stream of hot liquid ran onto my pants and then onto the floor. A little hard to be joyful when one is contemplating having to replace a $1000 computer, or to keep from screaming in pain for the searing hot liquid running down one’s leg. But at that moment, instead of emitting what might have been natural, I stood to my feet- part out of pain, and part out of praise, and started singing the Doxology!
And just what am I going to get out of this Biblical command? I will always get something positive from a negative situation if I choose to handle it in a Christ like way. First I will not allow the spilled coffee to ruin my day, since I have so much I need to do for the Lord. Second, I probably didn’t need to wear those pants anyway, because they didn’t match my shirt and if my wife had seen me she would have told me so. Thirdly I should be more careful next time where I place my beverages when I work at the computer- consuming beverages and food while engaged in this activity is a huge calculated risk that not many think about- almost like trying to drive and eat or talk on the cell phone at the same time. Our inattention can get us into trouble. Fourthly I rejoiced that I was in control of my emotions when I spilled the coffee- or at least the Holy Spirit was..
. Finally we need to understand why we need to be joyful. James is not saying that we are to enjoy being sick, losing a loved one, getting laid off from our job, being persecuted, or spilling coffee all over oneself. This is not some weird kind of denial that life often hurts. Some of us here today are hurting. We are suffering. James does not suggest that we manufacture some kind phony sense of happiness about our troubles. So, what is he saying?
There is a reason to be joyful in the midst of trials. It is not being happy about the trouble. It is finding joy in what the trouble produces. It is enjoying the sweet fruit produced only by bitter times.
Have a blessed day!
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