Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.” Because it is the words of Jesus, we may struggle to be honest about who easy this is so say, but how hard it is to do. No one like trouble, no one enjoys conflict, no one wants a third world war, no one wants riots in their streets. There is nothing pleasant in our feelings side of life about trouble, whether personal, national or international.

Then James comes along, the brother of Jesus, and says, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” Two different men, same message. There must be something to this we need to grasp in order to navigate challenges in this world in which we live.

We don’t like the feelings trials, troubles, evoke in us, which is why we try to avoid them at all costs. We ignore them, put them off, deny them, but they will not go away. Like that mosquito that buzzes near your ear while you are in bed and you are swatting for it in the dark. Trials, troubles are emotionally a challenge, even if we act like they are not.

Jesus said, take heart; James said, count it all joy. What did these men know we don’t know about trials, troubles? They knew what was being produced in the trial and they did not see joy as a feeling but as a posture. When joy is a posture of the heart, which comes from character not emotions, you realize this trouble, this trial is producing something in us we need. Rejoicing is not an emotion, it is a posture and when we take heart, it is because we see what the trial is producing, more character, more maturity, more love. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org