The Answer is Always C:Joy

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

God, for mine, and all reader's sakes, let these be Your Words and not mine. I beg you, for i am small sinful man, but You are the Holy God. Your Words are what we seek God, please let them flow into us like sweet water.

There have already been a couple blog post on this Scripture, and many other references in the others. But I haven't thought of it the way that God revealed a few days ago. Going through it word by word and thinking about the mindset behind it. It gets insane.

To start, the first word is "Consider." To consider something, in this case, is to adopt the idea or mindset of what is presented. So there is a mindset to adopt now. What is that mindset? That it is "Pure Joy" to go through trials. In the past I've described Joy as an understanding that we are broken beings living broken lives, but do not have to dwell in that because our Lord Jesus Christ died for us and gave us a future. But the new part God pointed out more was the word before it, Pure. Something that is Pure is the essence of something, the definition of it. So "Pure Joy" is the absolute version of Joy that cannot be denied. So we need to have a mindset of Pure Joy. But when?

"Trials of many kinds." Trials can be anything in this case, small things that annoy us and make us lose patience, or they can be major life altering events that bring us to our breaking points and shake us to the core. They can become very destructive very quickly. But only if the mindset of pure Joy is not there. To have a mindset of pure Joy in trials sounded hard before, but now it looks almost impossible. To have a true mindset of Joy is to be able to recognize the price Jesus Christ paid for us to save us in all situations. I have found it easier to see Jesus in the big things, but not the little things. I have been guilty of being quick to anger over the little things in the day. It feels easy because they are little things that we think won't affect us later. But the thing is that they affect us just as much as the big things over time. The thing about having Joy in trials is that it is us turning to God when we can't do something on our own. It's us turning to Him remembering what He did for us with a desire to live a life worthy of the calling we have received (Eph. 4:1). That is how we pass the test. Because, as the passage says, every trial is a test. If we pass that test then it brings us just that much closer to God. 

Have you noticed that if you go through a major trial in life by relying on God, you grow closer to Him and your life is changed with Him? Every time we turn to Him in a trial, big or small, we grow closer to Him. The more we do so, the more natural it becomes to do so in similar trials. This natural turning to Him when our nature is pulling in the other direction is perseverance. Our persevering in life through trials brings us closer to God and changes us more and more in Him. Eventually though there will always be a trial that brings us to the brink. Even though God never lets anything happen to us that we can't get through by relying on Him, there is still the part where we have to turn and rely on Him. This can either be easy or hard. If we aren't used to turning to Him in other trials, then guaranteed, it won't be easy to turn to Him in that big trial. This is why it is so important to take these small trials and rely on God and grow the relationship and faith in Him. The lack of perseverance can end up costing us our relationship with Him. Anyone who thinks they are immune to losing that is a fool. We are all susceptible to breaking that bond. I've known people who did after having such a deep relationship with God, and I myself almost did so as well. The small tests are just as important as the big ones.

The more we persevere in God, the closer we are to Him. When we are close to Him, we are changed into a new creation that is constantly growing. When perseverance finishes this work we are made mature and complete, we do not lack anything. We do not lack, because we have put everything in Jesus Christ, who is our everything. So we must have Joy in the big trials and the small trials, so that we can pass the tests, and become complete.

This post was written with my next trial in mind, a jaw realignment surgery 3 days from now. I've been nervous about the pain and the mental strain I'll be under, but this Scripture helped me as it always has by God's power ever since He first brought it to me four and a half years ago. So I will face this trial with a reliance on God in Pure Joy thanks to His Mercy and Love. There will not be any blog posts for 2-4 weeks depending on my recovery rate, but prayers would be appreciated. Thank you, and find Joy in all times.

Thank You For Reading

Long Live Jesus Christ

Amen 

Stop Holding My Breath

Romans 3:21-26

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His Grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

To weeks ago I gave a challenge to try to understand the attributes of Love in 1Cor. 13:4-7. It is now that I see how futile such a thing truly is. Who are we who are not good at all to try and understand any part of the God who made all creation and spoke each of us into motion? Who was I to think I was good enough to understand His Love? Does that mean to give up learning of it? No, but as far as thinking that we can understand it and express ourselves is wrong. If Love is ever expressed from us, it is not we ourselves who express it, but God within us moving and working by the Holy Spirit. For in this very same chapter of Romans, Romans 3, verse 10 says "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." It is the truth. None of us are good. None of us truly seeks God by His standards of seeking. We can read our Bibles everyday, pray everyday, serve everyday, but we are always going to be so much worse than we think we actually are. We will never measure up to God's standards because right now, by His standards none of us are truly understanding or seeking Him! How futile are our actions and words and thoughts! But that is why He stepped in. That is why He sent Jesus Christ, HIS SON, to die for us as an atoning sacrifice. Because He Loves us with this Love that is so beyond us to a point of true suffering and pain that we could never bear ourselves so that we might be forgiven. And I forgot that! I let that go to try to take Salvation by actions so that I could boast. But that is not what Love is. The tiny glimpse God gave us of Love in 1Cor 13:4-7 says that plain as day, it does not boast! So now is the part I humble myself for once and say that I am wretched and wrong and unwise. I am sorry that I thought and typed as if it were otherwise. But what then can I, and you do now?


God said that if we Love Him and then Love others as ourselves, then we will live according to the law. Well guaranteed we're gonna fail at that. But that's why that Love that we don't understand was given to us in Jesus Christ. To save us and to get it through our thick heads that Love is more than we could know it to be. Love is not a noun, it is a verb. Our bodies commit actions that we have no understanding or control over everyday like breathing. If think you have control over it that's because you have control over not doing it. We can hold our breath, but we almost never have to consciously tell ourselves to breathe. With Love it's the same. We have the ability to not do it. And guaranteed if you do it long enough it'll have the same effect as holding your breath to the end. But if we let go and let God take His course, then we will find this impossible element of Life moving in us. I can not explain what it will feel like, why it does so when we let it, or what the true benefits of doing so will be, because I am unrighteous. I can not understand Love, I can only accept it from God and give up myself to Him for His decisions. He is the Maker who Loves us, and He works in mysterious ways. It almost doesn't seem satisfying as an answer, but, the thing is that it is. This Love that we can't understand inspired the giving of Life eternal to all who just believe in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. He told us everything we needed to know already here on earth: We are sinners who are dead, He is the Loving Father that made us and will forgive us if we believe in His Son Jesus Christ, and He will make us into a new creation capable of allowing Him to work through us to Love others with the Love that saved us. Our sins are not held against us anymore. And the more we allow Him to Love us and change us, the more His Love will come from us. What that will mean in this life could be blessing, persecution, pain, it's not completely clear, but it's evident that it's worth it. 


Observing the law will not bring life, only God's mysterious Love will. And thankfully, like that passage above says, He gives it to us freely! I am not good, but the God I want to let work through me now is, I just need to stop holding my breath.

Thank You For Reading

LONG LIVE JESUS CHRIST

AMEN