In James 1:2-4 we read, 2 “My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.”
Notice that the apostle doesn’t here tell us what being “perfect and complete” is for. We could rightly ask him: James, why do you want us to be “perfect and complete, not deficient in anything”? What is the purpose of the competency you are advocating?
How would he reply to that? What is he after? I suggest that what he wants to see in us is a lifestyle of constant helpfulness and encouragement. That is to say, he wants to make sure that under no circumstances whatsoever do we fall short of helping and encouraging whoever it is who momentarily has our attention.
If that is the case, then the greatest threat to that lifestyle is to mismanage the trials and temptations we face along the way. By “mismanage” I mean that we allow them to refocus our attention on ourselves.
Reflect on this for a moment and you will realize that anything you face on any given day that you don’t particularly like has a way of easily becoming something that holds your attention hostage. And while you are preoccupied with what you’re going through, how can you maintain your focus on your calling to be a constant agent of God’s helpfulness and encouragement?
But when our lives are full of all kinds of trials, the apostle is calling us to hang tough on not allowing them to distract us from our mission. And the more we do that the more our endurance grows which results in competency to never be distracted from our calling by the ups and downs of life. That is to say, everyone we meet walks away helped and encouraged by us in some way even when some trial is clawing at our thoughts, tempting us to self-absorption or self-pity.
So consider it nothing but joy, says the apostle, when these trials pile up. They are to you what weights in a weight room are to someone who wants to gain strength. The more you push through those trials out of your commitment to be a constant blessing to others, the more your endurance will grow into a competency to help and encourage others no matter what is going on.
