TheMinistryCafe

In the Word, I’m going through Acts and a chronological reading of the epistles. Beginning in James, a familiar section that I’ve read (and cringed over) repeatedly struck me differently this time around: “Consider it pure joy when you face various trials…” I have rarely – if ever – lived up to this! Instead, my desire has been to avoid trials whenever possible. And that desire has gone largely unfulfilled. Trials just seem to be more of a constant than a lack of trials.

            Our country’s current economic upheaval looks like it may be a major trial that we all will face in one form or another. As a small business (WPH Architects for Ministry), we feel a weight of financial responsibility for our employees and our own families. Like most other businesses, we depend on a line of credit to keep the cash flowing when our customers don’t pay on time. We have a mortgage on our building, and have some equipment leases. We are a typical American small business that, together with the other small businesses, account for the majority of our country’s employment. The current credit crisis has the potential to bring down massive numbers of businesses that depend on any form of financing. (Guess we didn’t follow Dave Ramsey’s advice soon enough!) The trickle-down effect of this can be lost jobs and more lost homes. Does this situation make you feel threatened? If our security depends on the stuff of this world, then we are indeed threatened. But this time can also be a James 1 opportunity to “consider it pure joy”.

            When James admonishes us to consider trials to be joy, he does so on the basis of the outcome. He points out that God does something great in us as we endure hardship and difficulties. Thinking over many of the trials that I’ve gone through over the years, I can now say that I am a better person, a more useful person, because of these trials. The process of overcoming difficulties forges something in us of lasting value. What great person in chronicled in history did not face great challenges? Whether in the Word or our country’s history, without the challenge, there would be no greatness. Moses, Joseph, Washington, Lincoln – all considered great because of trials. Even Churchill would be a nobody today without the Nazis. God wants to bring out the greatness in us, and trials seem to be His school of choice.

            Turning back to James 1, we are told to consider it joy and to persevere precisely because of the end result; a perfected us. We aren’t told to enjoy the trial itself; if it didn’t hurt or stink, it wouldn’t be much of a trial. When the trial has come and gone, we can either smell like the fire we’ve just gone through, or come out of it with the fragrance of Christ. We have choices to make as we go through trials, and we have a God who offers us grace. I don’t always accept the grace He offers, and I don’t always make the right choice in the midst of the trials, often trying to find the fastest way out. And it seems to me that I do this largely out of fear.

            The fear-factor has the ability to immobilize us, to take our eyes off of God, and to toss us around like the waves of a storm. “What if this…what if that…” FEAR. The potential ramifications of the trial on the down-side causes anxiety or anger or other threat-based responses which fall under the general category of fear. Fear can be such a deceptive thing, as it focuses our attention enough off-center to do us great harm. It throws in our face the very issues we need to face, but it does so in such a way that we can’t move beyond them; they form a sort of wall in our psyche. Instead, we need to deal with the fear head-on. Face the fear, the ‘what ifs’, the down-side, the possible bad outcome, and do it with the Lord.

            A good friend of mine is a financial planner with many high-end clients. As you can imagine, his days lately have been filled with panicked calls from customers wanting to know what to do. For him, personally, he could lose everything as well – and he has a lot. His response to the crisis? “Oh well, it’s just stuff!” He has faced the fearful ramifications of this time and concluded that the ‘stuff’ isn’t going to last anyway. God lasts; He is there. I’ve also considered the ramifications of this time. I could lose my house. I could lose my business. It’s all just ‘stuff’. Scripture tells us that if we have food and covering, we can be content. Beyond the necessities, it’s all just stuff. By facing the fear of losing it all head-on, fear loses its power over me. I think back to when I was in college and was first married. I had nothing, then. My wife and I ate as vegetarians; we could not afford meat. We had a very low income and did little that cost money. We may have been poor in the world’s eyes, but we did not feel poor. We had rich relationships. When I traveled abroad on a mission trip to northern Russia a few years ago, I met many people who were poor by our standards, but rich in relationships. My son went to Kenya on a mission trip and met poor people, poor children, yet they were full of joy. When it comes right down to it, as Jesus said, love God and love people; everything else is just ‘stuff’. Having made do with little in the past, I can do it again if need be. And maybe it will even make me richer in relationships.

            In these challenging times – whatever the outcome of the current financial crisis – may we all find grace to face our fears and move on with God, letting the trials bring out the greatness in us that He intends, so that we can be the fragrance of Christ to a lost and dying world.