If the thought has ever crossed your mind, you’re in good company with James’s audience. “The twelve tribes in the Dispersion” at the beginning of the letter described both the Jews who’d been exiled from Israel and also the Christian believers who’d scattered from Jerusalem after persecution settled in to stay.Ī people sent packing due to their faith were familiar with suffering, which makes James’s opening exhortation imminently practical for them: “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds.” Suffering was part of life, but God wanted His children to greet trials with a counter-intuitive response. Human nature hasn’t changed in two millennia. But James instead tells his readers why trials should provoke joy: “. for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” The word for testing ( dokimion ) was often used to describe precious metals put through extreme heat to remove impurities, becoming so pure you could see your reflection in it.
Similarly, as God tests us and we go through the heat, we reflect His nature more.
