Having introduced to us the letter of James in part 1, this week will start to make our way through the book. We will not examine every passage in James in detail, but we certainly cannot overlook the opening admonition of the letter, “Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of various kinds.”

Even though most of us recognize the truth of this, I doubt there are very many of us who would say that this is a favorite passage. Trials involve suffering and we do not like suffering. If we have any choice in the matter, we would rather avoid it.

Happily, James is not telling us that our trials ARE joy. He is telling us to CONSIDER THEM as joy. What’s the difference? Quite a bit actually. While none of us likes trials, and we should do all that we reasonably can to avoid them, sometimes they simply can’t be avoided. As Jesus told his disciples, “in this world you will have trouble.” But he also tells them, “take heart, I have overcome the world.”

It is this fact that allows us to face our trials with a certain kind of joy. It is because we have a firm conviction that God is taking us somewhere and is molding us and shaping us along the way, that we can endure our trials as a path to a happy ending (or will it really be just the beginning?). This will be very important to us in the days and years ahead, because as Christians increasingly lose their influence in our culture, our trials and challenges will increase. We may find ourselves in a position similar to the early readers of James.

So join me as we start our way through the book. While the subject is difficult, its importance cannot be overstated.