Counting All as JoySample

Even through the tears

"Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials" (James 1:2 NIV). It’s a bold statement that we find in James—someone who watched Jesus and saw how His life led to the cross.

To be honest, I think my early interpretation of this verse was "fake it till you make it." If you act like you have joy in the hard times, it’ll make the hard times easier. After all, the hardship will eventually end, right?

As my faith has developed, I see it and experience it very differently. I’m a big laugher, and so can laugh in all circumstances, but that’s not the same as joy. In joy, we find thankfulness, hope, and peace. It’s a state of faith that looks beyond the current circumstance and sees the gift of growth and strengthening through it and the hope in it, and trusts that God is faithful to continue to be working "all things together for good."

Pure joy doesn’t have to look like laughter and delight. The presence of tears doesn’t mean that pure joy is absent. Our joy in the trials of many kinds welcomes with it the comfort of the Holy Spirit and a hope for the future. It positions us to be consistent in how we treat those around us, despite our own circumstances, not being swayed by our circumstances or how others treat us.

It’s a bold statement by James to consider it pure joy whenever you face trials, but in practice, it positions us for a life that is centred and growing and results in transforming lives.

Written by SUSIE HOLT