“My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-3 NRSV)

I last posted on July 28, two months ago. That would make me an extremely bad blogger! All I can say is that I have lived the above verses in these last months. I have faced trials and I have endured. Have I considered it “nothing but joy”?

Not so much.

The summer was long and somewhat painful with many changes, hurts, and sorrows mixed with God’s richest protection and blessings. Suffice it to say that while I often thought about the concept of joy because of my personal study for this year, actually trying to put words to paper (or on computer screen) seemed to be more than I could handle.

There must be something about endurance that makes it so valuable that God is willing to let us face trials in order to build that quality in us. And it must become so valuable to us personally that we are joyful because we know that the trials are building that quality in us.

So what’s so good about endurance? Well, the verse goes on to say that when endurance has its full effect, we become “mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Do I feel more mature after this summer? Maybe a little. I’m wiser. I’m more sensitive to others who hurt. I understand how fragile life is. I know a little more about God’s hand in and on our lives. If this is guiding me to become more complete in him, if this is what God wants to see in my life, then I can only hope that endurance is indeed having its full effect.

But endurance is more than survival. The context seems to tell me that I endure this testing of my faith by being faithful, by obeying God, by moving forward when curling into a ball or giving up would be easier. It means doing the right thing when the wrong thing seems to make more sense. It means walking step by step in the direction where God is leading, following in his footsteps.

Only then can endurance possibly help us find joy in trials. Only then is endurance meaningful because God is guiding through the trial and actually has a reason for it, an end in mind, a goal to make us mature and complete.

I could not be strong without trials. An easy life makes a weak Christian. I don’t want to be a couch potato Christian; I want to be a muscular Christian. And, like physical strength, that moral fiber needed for my life of faith is only developed as I endure in obedience the trials set before me—trials God knows about, God allows, and God helps me handle.

Could I ask for anything else? Easy life? Why? What would be the purpose in that? How about a purposeful life, a life lived for God, a life spent doing exactly what he wants me to do? And if I want to do that, I need to be molded by him through the trials that develop endurance.

Nothing but joy, Lord. Nothing but joy!