Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. (James 1:2)
Expanded Passage: James 1:2-3
In the sports community many hours have been spent debating whether Lebron James is a better basketball player than Michael Jordan was. However, there is one generation of adults that will always believe Michael Jordan is the best. As kids, they spent hours soaking up as much knowledge about Michael Jordan as possible. Through that knowledge, they began—as much as possible—to walk like him, talk like him, play basketball like him, and look like him. To assist them in this endeavor, many of them bought his basketball jersey and anxiously waited for his new shoes to be unveiled each winter. It was as if he was a marinade, and they were the meat absorbing the Michael Jordan flavor.
By using the word considering, James commanded us to marinate ourselves in the value of trials. As we do, we will discover it is through trials that our lives can take on the flavor of Christ who was made “perfect through what he suffered” (Heb. 2:10). The results are that our lives begin to express that flavor, thus fulfilling the purpose for which we have been created, which is to provide a true representation of God to a world that desperately needs him. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31)
Ask God to increase your desire to be more like Christ.
TJ Albertson has been pastoring for nineteen years, the last seventeen in interchurch service. He loves teaching the entire Bible and its relevance to life.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
