When we think about trials, our minds automatically associate them with circumstances that haven’t gone our way. Dealing with disappointment. Mourning tragedy. Stewarding frustration. Many trials cause angst, hurt, and confusion.
But there are other kinds of trials as well and we do not give them the same attention. Success is a trial. Wealth is a trial. Getting exactly what you want is as much of a trial as being disappointed. James 1 covers examples of all kinds of trials, from want to plenty.
A trial is not certain circumstances; it is all circumstances. Every kind.
How will you steward your wealth? How will you manage and share your success? Will you bless others and worship God with your resources; or will you hoard them for your own sense of power and control?
Just because a thing makes us feel good does not mean it is not a trial. Everything we face is an opportunity. We can squander it or succeed in it. The valleys, plains, and mountains are all terrains of life; settings that allow us to make our choices.
How are you stewarding your mountaintop experiences? We all have to decide how we are going to cope with tragedy, sorrow and failure. We have to decide how to view the boring and the mundane. And we have to decide what to do with our success; how to perceive it and how to use it. The trial is a joy to face and the results have the potential to affect Eternity.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds”
– James 1:2