While coaching my sports as a child, my dad had a saying: “No pain, no gain.” I hated this saying. It made no sense to me. I thought there was a lot to gain by avoiding pain. Having pain was no fun. Unfortunately I learned that my father was right. In order to get stronger, faster, and better I had to work until there was pain. I had to push myself to the limits and beyond. It was only in doing this that was able to improve. There was no way around it.

When we first read James’ statement, it can strike us with the same bewilderment that I felt as a kid. Maybe we can learn to endure trials and temptations, but to consider it a joy? He must be kidding! How can we view trials as a joy? There are stressful, painful and just generally unpleasant. If anything we go out of our way to avoid such experiences. What James says does not seem to square with everyday life.

However, James’ point is that the trials are what bring us joy. Just like in a workout, we generally do not enjoy the workout as we are doing it. What we do get joy out of is the fact that we are improving ourselves. We know that if we keep with it we will get stronger. The longer we do it we can actually see progress in the workout itself, and that becomes a source of excitement. It is the same way in our spiritual lives. While we may not enjoy the tribulation aspect, we know that as we are going through it we are making ourselves stronger. If we continue pushing ourselves, we will be able to do more and better things, becoming a stronger warrior for the Lord. And that is something to truly rejoice about.