Perhaps you have seen the bumper sticker that reads, "When life hands you a lemon, turn it into lemonade!"
It is easier to smile at that simple statement than to practice it but its basics wisdom is sound. The Bible records numerous examples of people who turned defeat into victory and trail into triumph. Instead of being victims, they became victors. They tasted sweet success and so can you.
To live successfully in this age and develop as Christians, we must know how to face up to trails (lemons). Over the year I have found the book of James a real source of encouragement and instruction on this subject.
"Count it all joy when you fall into various trials" (James 1:2).
Joy?
Ordinarily we count it all joy when we escape trails and temptations,
right? But are we missing something when we think this way? God tells
us to expect trials. He doesn't say if you fall into various testings but when you fall.
The
person who expects his or her life to be easy is in for a big shock.
Christ warned His disciples, "In the world you will have tribulation;
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Paul
wrote that "we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God"
(Acts 14:22).
These are powerful examples for us to follow.
Trials occur in numerous forms. Some trials come according to our age. Young people, teens, for example, face trials that accompany their physical growth and maturity into adulthood and test that come through learning to keep in check their natural human desires and bodily cravings.
Older people are not exempt from these same tests, since the battle against sin does not grow easier as we grow older. Additional trying experiences come with old age, when things we were once able to do we can do no longer.
Specific trials come also with various responsibilities of life. Parenthood, for example, is delightful and exciting in prospect but in reality it brings its own particular tests and difficulties when children are ill or not not respond readily to child rearing. As one famous author put it. "To those people with no children but who think they'd like to have them someday to fulfill their lives remember: With fulfillment comes responsibility."
Job advancement is a tremendous encouragement but also with the added come headaches and heartaches.
Some trials come simply because we are still human - sickness, accidents, disappointments, family tragedies. Other trials come because we are God's children. Satan, the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4), fights us daily and the world opposes us and this makes for a lifelong battle.
In James 1:2 the phrase "fall into" does not suggest a clumsy accident. Commentaries render its meaning as "encounter, come across unexpectedly, so as to be encompassed by them [trials]." As intelligent people we certainly should not manufacture trials for ourselves.
Trails are referred to as "various" - they are as manifold and varied as the designs and colors you might view in a kaleidoscope. Peter use the name word in I Peter 1:6: "You have been grieved by various trials." The trails we face are not all alike; they are like many-colored yarn that a weaver uses to make an expensive Oriental or Persian rug. God arranges and mixes the colors and experiences of life. The final result is a beautiful product for God to view and use for all eternity.
A fine Oriental or Persian rug is an original piece of craftsmanship. Each rug is knotted on a loom. The more knots per square inch, the better the rug. A fine wool rug has almost 400 knots per square inch. It takes a skilled weaver up to three months - and lots of patience - to make a typical 9 by 12 foot rug. One way to tell if the rug is genuine or not is to look for small but obvious flaws that are a valued characteristic of a hand-knotted rug. Machine-woven rugs appear perfect.
The key word in James 1:2 is count. It means to consider, to think over carefully, to evaluate what is happening. Paul used it several times in the book of Philippians.
When the apostle Paul was converted he evaluated his life and set new goals and priorities. Things that were once important to him became worthless garbage or as he put it, dung. When we face the tests and trials of life, we must evaluate them in the light of what God is doing with us. He is the master weaver.
This explains why the dedicated Christian can have joy in the midst of trials: He or she lives for the things that really matter.
Trials, therefore, properly understood, cause joy. We can now appreciate James' opening words: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials" (James 1:2).
Perhaps the most important lesson we must learn from what James says is that the benefit we receive from trials depends on to a large degree upon how we look at them and the spirit with which we handle them.
When God tells us to be happy and count it all joy, He is telling us to look at problems from the positive side; those wretched problems we have can be turned into real profit. We simply cannot lose.
Ask God for a positive attitude toward your trials. He will respond. Reread the book of James. Turn your lemons (trials) into lemonade (triumphs).
These are powerful examples for us to follow.
Trials occur in numerous forms. Some trials come according to our age. Young people, teens, for example, face trials that accompany their physical growth and maturity into adulthood and test that come through learning to keep in check their natural human desires and bodily cravings.
Older people are not exempt from these same tests, since the battle against sin does not grow easier as we grow older. Additional trying experiences come with old age, when things we were once able to do we can do no longer.
Specific trials come also with various responsibilities of life. Parenthood, for example, is delightful and exciting in prospect but in reality it brings its own particular tests and difficulties when children are ill or not not respond readily to child rearing. As one famous author put it. "To those people with no children but who think they'd like to have them someday to fulfill their lives remember: With fulfillment comes responsibility."
Job advancement is a tremendous encouragement but also with the added come headaches and heartaches.
Some trials come simply because we are still human - sickness, accidents, disappointments, family tragedies. Other trials come because we are God's children. Satan, the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4), fights us daily and the world opposes us and this makes for a lifelong battle.
In James 1:2 the phrase "fall into" does not suggest a clumsy accident. Commentaries render its meaning as "encounter, come across unexpectedly, so as to be encompassed by them [trials]." As intelligent people we certainly should not manufacture trials for ourselves.
Trails are referred to as "various" - they are as manifold and varied as the designs and colors you might view in a kaleidoscope. Peter use the name word in I Peter 1:6: "You have been grieved by various trials." The trails we face are not all alike; they are like many-colored yarn that a weaver uses to make an expensive Oriental or Persian rug. God arranges and mixes the colors and experiences of life. The final result is a beautiful product for God to view and use for all eternity.
A fine Oriental or Persian rug is an original piece of craftsmanship. Each rug is knotted on a loom. The more knots per square inch, the better the rug. A fine wool rug has almost 400 knots per square inch. It takes a skilled weaver up to three months - and lots of patience - to make a typical 9 by 12 foot rug. One way to tell if the rug is genuine or not is to look for small but obvious flaws that are a valued characteristic of a hand-knotted rug. Machine-woven rugs appear perfect.
The key word in James 1:2 is count. It means to consider, to think over carefully, to evaluate what is happening. Paul used it several times in the book of Philippians.
When the apostle Paul was converted he evaluated his life and set new goals and priorities. Things that were once important to him became worthless garbage or as he put it, dung. When we face the tests and trials of life, we must evaluate them in the light of what God is doing with us. He is the master weaver.
This explains why the dedicated Christian can have joy in the midst of trials: He or she lives for the things that really matter.
Trials, therefore, properly understood, cause joy. We can now appreciate James' opening words: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials" (James 1:2).
Perhaps the most important lesson we must learn from what James says is that the benefit we receive from trials depends on to a large degree upon how we look at them and the spirit with which we handle them.
When God tells us to be happy and count it all joy, He is telling us to look at problems from the positive side; those wretched problems we have can be turned into real profit. We simply cannot lose.
Ask God for a positive attitude toward your trials. He will respond. Reread the book of James. Turn your lemons (trials) into lemonade (triumphs).
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