A Faith that Thrives in the Face of Adversity

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“When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize 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.” James 1:2-4 (Phillips NT)

James was a pragmatist. He didn’t say “If” but “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives ...” He was writing to people who got it! They were already experiencing adversity beyond our imagination, yet their faith could thrive in the midst of it! Don’t settle for just surviving when you can thrive in the face of adversity! James tells us how. 

First, “… don’t resent (the trials and temptations that are crowding into your lives) as intruders, but welcome them as friends!” WHAT? Are you nuts? Who welcomes adversity? That’s not a typical response. Pressures weigh us down and trigger some natural responses depending on our personality. My first reaction to problems and trials may be much like yours. Run from them! Resent them! I don’t know how you’re wired but most of us respond to pressure negatively at first, kind of like the characters in Winnie the Pooh:  

Piglet – the worrywart who’s always fearful of what to do when problems arise. 

Eeyore – the pessimist who can only see how things won’t work out. 

Rabbit – the control freak who tries to fix everyone and everything. 

Tigger – the spontaneous, carefree soul who’s an emotional rollercoaster.  

Roo – the naïve optimist who is often oblivious to what is happening. 

Which one are you most like?  Sometimes I have a little of all these responses depending on the pressure I’m feeling. How about you? How do you handle pressure and adversity in your life?  Deadlines and life’s demands create pressures as well as trials and temptations that often crowd into our lives and test our faith. They feel like intruders! Interruptions! As much as I would like to avoid them, I’m learning that God uses pressure in my life in a positive and faith-building way if I will cooperate and trust Him in the process. When the things we expected to happen don’t happen, we begin to feel the pressure to produce them ourselves or the pressure that, maybe, we missed God somewhere. Neither may be the case.   

James must have dealt with his share of pressures when he gave us this wise counsel in James 1:2-4 (Ph). Look at it again, “When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize 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.” 

Secondly, James offers a counterintuitive response to adversity that will enable us to thrive! Not only should we welcome it as a friend instead of an intruder, but we should, “Realize (that’s perspective) that they come to test your faith and to produce in you a quality of endurance.”   

In other words, God designs the pressures in our lives to develop our faith, to make it stronger so we may learn to thrive in the face of adversity! If we cooperate with the process, there is a spiritual benefit.  It’s called “maturity.”  It’s part of our development in God’s family as He shapes our character into the image of His Son. This won’t make the pressures go away, but it certainly gives us a better way to handle them. 

Since this is not a normal way we respond to adversity I want to suggest you join me in this prayer today and each time you feel the pressure mounting in your life.   

God, I need Your help to handle the pressures I’m dealing with right now. Too often, I’ve found myself responding negatively. It affects not only me, but those around me as well. Help me to see how You want to use these pressures to shape my character and produce in me a quality of endurance that grows my faith. Give me a faith that thrives in the face of adversity. I ask this in Your Name and for Your glory!