Consider it Pure Joy

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 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 1:2-4

This verse feels a little off, doesn't it? Facing trials of many kinds doesn't just naturally lead to pure joy. As I read this verse today, I realized it doesn't say, "feel pure joy." Instead, it says, "consider it pure joy." 

The definition of the word consider is: to think carefully about something, typically before making a decision or to regard something as having a specified quality.

If we consider those definitions, James isn't saying that trials of many kinds will be joyful, he is saying that we should think carefully about our trials before we make up our minds about them. He is even requesting that we regard our trials as having that specific quality---joy. 

Why? Because the things we face in life produce perseverance and when perseverance does its work within us, we become mature and complete and lack nothing. It is God's will for His children to become mature and complete. He created us to be so much more than we realize and sadly, we'll never become who we are meant to be without challenges and difficulties of various kinds. That is why God allows hardships, because He knows what it takes to mature us and make us complete, lacking nothing. 

While the trials themselves are not full of joy, becoming who God created us to be is an amazingly beautiful thing. We don't have to like the trials but God wants us to consider what they are producing within us, instead of just focusing on the discomfort, inconvenience, or pain they are causing us as we walk through them. 

There is purpose in the process. The pain leads to God's plan. These trials will not break us; His promises will be fulfilled. Remembering those truths enables us to consider our trials pure joy, not because of what we're going through, but because of what we are becoming. 

Tori