May 26, 2026
Tuesday, May 26
Yesterday, I told you a brief version of Costi Hinn’s story. If you want to know more, I recommend his memoir, God, Greed and the (Prosperity) Gospel. Costi left that world and embraced the true Gospel of Jesus. Our passage this week is the kind of thing he preaches now. This is the truth that can produce real grit in you and me: James 1:2-12
Some of you right now are going through a severe trial. The rest of us know trials are coming; that’s the reality of this life. So what does James tell us to do when life gets hard? Rejoice, pray and hope.
First, we Rejoice in what our pain is producing. Or in James’s words from v. 2, “Count it all joy…when you meet trials of various kind.,” Let’s be honest: That sounds insane. At best, we think to ourselves, “That must be for the super-Christians, not for me.” But we see this idea play out in other areas of life. A pregnant woman rejoices when the contractions get painful, not because she loves pain, but because it means the baby will finally be here. A preteen boy rejoices when he finds out the leg cramps that have plagued him for weeks are actually growth pains. We aren’t rejoicing at the pain itself; we’re rejoicing in what it’s producing.
As Christians, we can rejoice when we suffer because it produces steadfastness. We know that after we get through this current trial—and we will get through it by God’s grace—we will be stronger than before. I run a couple times a week, and I happen to live in one of the few neighborhoods in Conroe that has actual hills. I hate running uphill. If I had my way, I would run a route that was downhill the entire way. But I can rejoice because I know the steeper the hill, the more my endurance grows. As relieved as I am when I reach the top of the hill, I rejoice at what the hill produces in me.
But here’s the thing: Your ability to rejoice in times of suffering depends entirely on what your goal for life is. If my goal in life was to avoid all pain or sweat, I would never run up a hill. But since my goal is to get into shape, I can rejoice in the pain. In the same way, if your overarching goal in life is to be blissfully happy, rejoicing in suffering makes no sense. This is why prosperity gospel preachers avoid passages like this. In their theology, earthly prosperity is the goal of life, so suffering, when it comes, must mean that we’re doing something wrong. But James says that suffering helps us become perfect and complete. In other words, grit is an unavoidable step on the road to becoming like Jesus. You really can rejoice no matter what life throws at you, but only if becoming like Jesus is your highest goal in life.
“Lord, what is my highest goal? If it’s anything other than pleasing you and becoming like you, make that known to me. Change my heart, as only you can. Set me on the right path. In your name, amen.”
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Conroe
More from Pastor Jeff at his website: jeffbergerwriting.com
