Joy

 There is a difference between being joyful and counting it as joy. It matters because some people take the verse to mean one thing while it means another, and then they beat themselves into the dirt because they can’t bring themselves to smile through the tears or to laugh when the situation calls for mourning.

James 1:2-3, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

That’s what the verse says! God does not expect us to be robots, automatons, or drones going to and fro without feeling or emotion. If you have occasion to laugh, laugh. If you have occasion to cry, cry. Grieve, lament, mourn, weep, do the things that come naturally as a direct reaction to something that’s happening in your life.

If you accidentally stab yourself in the thigh, scream. Don’t put on a fake smile that’s something between a cringe and the face you make when you smell a rotten egg, pretending that you were unaffected by the knife in your leg.

Because some believe they are supposed to exhibit joy in their trials, they close themselves off from being vulnerable with fellow believers and sharing hardship or asking for prayer because others might deem them weak and unseasoned.

The difference between counting something as joy and being joyful is that even though a situation is painful, you know the outcome is positive and beneficial. When James encourages us to count it all joy, he speaks to how we react to the trials and the mindset we ought to possess while going through them. He is not referring to an emotional reaction you might have amid the trial but the overall mindset you should possess through it.

A few years back, I went to the funeral of a friend who’d left a wife and two little girls behind. During our conversation, after asking my friend’s widow if she needed anything, she began rubbing her eyes and said, “I know I’m not supposed to cry, but I just can’t help it.”

“Who said you’re not supposed to cry?” I asked her. “Who could possibly fault you for shedding tears for the passing of the father of your children and the man you built a family with?”

Apparently, an elder in the church had offered her the piece of unsolicited advice, and she’d taken it to heart. Even Jesus wept. He didn’t go skipping through the rose garden as the time drew near; He went off to pray and cried tears of blood.

We can’t be sloppy about the Word of God or the intended meaning thereof. By doing so, we put burdens on people who already have a bowed back and are just looking for a bit of encouragement, a little light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

We can either be the person who helps heal the wound or the person who jams their finger into it, trying to see how deep it goes. Yes, you can stand on the truth of Scripture, call things for what they are, and still have empathy and compassion for someone’s struggle or situation. The two are not mutually exclusive, and Jesus clearly showed us this.

He had compassion on those who came to Him but did not fail in telling them to go and sin no more. We cannot be so compassionate that we fail to call people to repentance. We cannot be so empathetic that we gloss over sins that should be abandoned, forsaken, and repented of.

Although we are rarely joyful in our trials, we can count them as joy, knowing what they will produce and how necessary it is for our spiritual well-being. By all means, feel your feelings, but do not be guided or influenced by them. Do not allow your emotions to pull you away from obedience or the mindset that God knows what He is doing.

If we give in to feelings, they have a way of spiraling, wherein sadness turns into resentment, resentment turns into bitterness, bitterness turns into hatred, and given enough time, all that remains is a ball of rage looking for an outlet, for someone to blame, and someone to scapegoat for all the decisions we made along the way that were based on feelings and emotions rather than the Word and will of God.

Too many today blame God for their bad choices, their ill-conceived decisions, and their lives in general, even though they never once asked for His input or queried what His will was for their lives.

You’re the one in the driver’s seat, deciding to turn left or right, ignoring your GPS, thinking you know better. If you end up driving off the end of a peer, you can’t blame your car or GPS; you can only blame yourself.

God is explicit regarding what we can do and what we can’t, which path we should take and which path we shouldn’t, but if we ignore His Word, if we pay no heed to His voice, and we end up somewhere we never wanted to be, it’s not His fault.

Thankfully, while you have breath, there’s still time to put it in reverse, go back to where you last heard His instruction, repent for your rebellion, and humbly pursue obedience, doing what He says, with full assurance that He knows the end from the beginning and is with you every step of the way.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.