From Doubt to Devotion: How Our Trials Transform Us预览

Many years ago, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” was one of my favorite TV shows. The show offered contestants the chance to win a million dollars by correctly answering a series of 15 questions. When contestants got stuck on difficult questions, they could "phone a friend” and ask someone they trusted to help them find the answer.

Here's what I found interesting: the contestants didn't pick their lifelines randomly. They carefully chose people they knew they could count on when things got tough. They selected individuals who had already proven themselves to be reliable.

I have a friend who told me something fascinating a few years ago: "I don't trust my friends until we've fought. Until we've had conflict, we're not real friends because I don't know what they're going to do when things get difficult."

There's wisdom in that statement. Adversity reveals character, both yours and the people around you.

James tells us to consider our trials pure joy "because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:3-4 NIV) He's describing a process where trials actually give us an advantage.

I experienced this truth a few years ago, during that season that drove me to my knees. I had a friend with whom I wasn't particularly close, but over a period of several months, we would call, text, and rely on each other every week through some wild circumstances. The friendship we have now is more profound and more trustworthy than it was before, not because things were easy, but because they were hard.

That's the advantage James is talking about. People who have endured adversity know who they can trust. They've seen which friends show up and which ones disappear. They've discovered what they actually believe under pressure, not just what they think they feel when life is comfortable.

James calls this process “refinement.” Like metal put through fire to reveal its true character, trials reveal what's truly present in us and others. Adversity is a truth serum for your relationship with God, for your character, and for your relationships with others.

The Greek words James uses for "mature and complete" give us the idea of wholeness and fullness. The word isn't speaking about sinless perfection; instead, it's describing maturity, becoming the person God created you to be. And here's the thing: God cannot make you that person apart from trials and adversity.

The steadfastness you develop during difficult times must finish its work. Many of us try to escape trials before God is done with what He's accomplishing through them. We want the microwave version of spiritual growth, but God often uses the slow-cooker method.

If you're in the middle of a trial today, I have a question for you: Are you looking to escape something God is calling you to endure? Could that desire to get out be working against what God is trying to do?

I know it's hard! Trials wouldn't be trials if they weren't difficult. But what if, instead of trying to escape, you asked God if He's calling you to endure? What if you trusted that there's a gift waiting for you on the other side?

Tomorrow, you'll discover just how generous God really is when you turn to Him for help.