Trials—painful as they may be—allow one to grow in the Christian faith and become strong. In this way, problems are beneficial to us. They bring the benefit of strength and endurance. For this reason, we may have joy when facing them:
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (James 1:2-3)
Trials Are Beneficial To Us
Here’s a thought: we rarely consider escaping a trial as a benefit lost. What do I mean? Let’s be honest: If we pray without thinking, how do we usually pray about trials and hardships? Do we not usually fall into a sort of “default mode” of prayer, asking to escape the trial or praying that the ones we love would never face any trial at all?
A friend is sick, and we pray that God heals her. A persecuted Christian is imprisoned, so we pray for his release. And one of the reasons we do so is because we usually think only of the joy that comes in the absence of trials. To be sure, there is joy in sound health and religious freedom. No one disputes this. At the same time, however, James calls for our rejoicing in the ability to benefit from the presence of trials and hardships.
James’ stress is not on the joy we have when escaping trials but on the joy we may have when enduring them. Indeed, a Christian can be joyful when facing trials because—as James puts it in verse 3—”the testing of our faith produces patience (or endurance).”
Trials Strengthen Us
Usually, when I go to the gym, I feel inferior because I find myself in the presence of guys who have been working on their muscles for years, and it shows. A friend once said, “They have muscles in places I don’t have places!”
But how do you get muscles? How do you grow strong? You “work out.” And it is work. Muscles grow when they are tested. It’s like the guy who struggles to carry a load upon his shoulders. The first time is tough, but the longer he carries that load, the stronger he becomes. Over time, he moves with greater ease and agility.
In the same way, the longer you carry the “load” of each trial, the stronger you become. Most Christians want to become strong in the faith. They want to grow and mature. Well, think of God as your personal trainer who guides you through various “workout” routines because He knows what is best for your program of growth. And know that the longer you keep carrying the “weight” of your trials, God will strengthen you.
The word “patience” in verse 3 fis better translated as “endurance.” It connotes the idea of standing firm in the presence of adversity.
Trials strengthen our trust in God as the One who always does what is right and knows what is best for us. It is often through the experience of painful trials that joy is discovered or enhanced.
John Piper helps us see this truth in his booklet, Don’t Waste Your Cancer.1 In the book, Piper (who was himself diagnosed with prostate cancer) helps Christians understand how God uses trials like cancer to draw us closer to Himself. And while Piper notes that praying for physical healing is certainly biblical and right, he also writes about the joy that can come with cancer, a God-focused joy that, if not experienced, might lead to one’s cancer being lost or “wasted.” Some of the points he brings out in the book include:
- You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.
- You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
- You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating cancer” means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
That last point is especially beneficial. We tend to think of “beating cancer” as the best goal, but the best goal is to cherish Christ and to be conformed to His image. So Piper reminds us:
Satan’s and God’s designs in your cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ. God designs to deepen your love for Christ. Cancer does not win if you die. It (only) wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ. It is meant to help you say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord.” And to know that therefore, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 3:8; Philippians 1:21).”
ibid.
Cancer doesn’t win, nor does any trial or affliction win, unless we value our temporary human existence over and above cherishing Christ, growing in Christ, and becoming more complete in Christ Jesus.
This takes us to another benefit of trials we’ll examine on another day!
**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 5-7, available on Amazon.
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