Your Why
When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realise that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence. And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God—who gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty—and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him. – James 1:1-5, J.B. PHILLIPS paraphrase
“Begin with the end in mind.” Stephen Covey made this idea famous in his 7 Habits for Highly Effective People. James begins his book with the end in mind. Perfection. (James 1:4) The word in Greek is teleios. It is found in places like Matthew 5:48. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (NIV) Jesus’ words feel impossible and they should. But, this is the end He has in mind for us. Completeness, wholeness, maturity. Here’s the rub: To get to perfect is a hard and often painful process. Thus, James’ command to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds...” So maybe it isn’t beginning with the end in mind so much as it is to keep the end in mind that will be of help in the day to day. If we keep reminding ourselves that Christlikeness is what God is up to in our lives then we can consider it pure joy when trials come.
As a runner, one of the key mental transitions came when I learned to embrace pain. That sounds sadist but, it is the only way that you can push your body to run faster and farther. The key of course is understanding the point of the pain. It was to become a more ‘complete’ runner. So a great workout never felt “good” but, it did in the sense that by it I knew I was improving as a runner. I could ‘consider it pure joy’ when 25 quarter mile repeats at race pace went well because, I knew that I was getting faster. I didn’t “enjoy” the workout; it hurt! But, I knew what it was working in me and that made it rewarding. If it takes pain and persistence to get good at something as basic as running, it makes sense that it takes a good bit more pain and perseverance to become more complete as a Christian. And hopefully, you and I can remember the end when the trials and temptations crowd in to our lives.
One final thought here. While it isn’t a universal principle, it seems that the further we get along toward mastery of anything, the more resources we have to invest to improve. So there exists at least the possibility that the longer we are in this mentorship with Jesus, the more resources (think time, talent, treasure, pain, death to self, surrender...) will have to be invested to see growth. Hopefully that is an encouragement to you as you keep the end in mind. If you can maintain clarity on your why, the process doesn’t become pain-free but it does become worthwhile. The joy comes when we have the end in mind.
“God’s goal in our lives is maturity in Him, growth in His likeness. One day every person is going to stand before Almighty God, and God’s goal from now until then is to prepare you for that day. We don’t like this, for we think the goal of life is to be successful, to have a nice job, to get a raise, to achieve standing in the world, to attain a certain goal or to have a certain kind of family. Then when trials hit in our family, at work, or with some plans we have, they devastate us. But if our goal is to know God and to be conformed into His likeness, then we can take joy in trials because we can know that no matter how tough these trials are, they are moving us toward our goal.”
Further Resources:
If you are interested, the newsletter I referred to and read from at the start of the message on Sunday it can be found here.