I realize we’ve been in James before, but…really…can a person get too much of James and his wisdom? I see James as a primer for living a triumphant Christian life, so we’re going to revisit him.

Raise your hand if you celebrate when hardship comes. (I don’t expect any raised hands at this point.) None of us like troubles and trials. None of us like any kind of suffering. But don’t we all like to grow spiritually? You see, James knew that we WOULD face trials. Various ones—physical, emotional, spiritual. We all deal with sickness, accidents, disappointments, tragedies, broken relationships… Trials sometimes come because of our commitment to Christ, and sometimes we bring them on ourselves with poor choices. Regardless, there’s a positive end result: endurance/strengthened faith. When you think of the most faith-full people in your life, you’re most likely thinking of folks who have been through the fire. These people likely looked ahead to the result of the trial—gained strength—which proved the authenticity of their faith and let them be examples for us. When minerals go through a fire, the impurities and dross are burned away so all that remains is pure and valuable before God. There is our purpose in suffering. When we remain strong and committed to Him in the face of conflict, we grow…and in that we can find joy.