Free Methodist Church Of Santa Barbara

This Sunday, we delve into James' first idea. With a brief salutation, he launches in by telling the church to be glad for hardships because of what they produce in our lives. There is no explanation given nor is there any context for what he is talking about. What I appreciate about this is that all of us have pain. We could all stop and think of a difficult situation or season in our lives when what we faced tested us beyond what we thought we could endure. James doesn't need to spell out a certain or real scenario because we all know what he is talking about. What Sunday will focus on is how he frames those times as joy. That is the difficulty. How do we decide, in all honesty, to look at the pain in our life as a good thing?