james 1. 2 (niv), consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. rejoicing when your facing trials or problems is not just positive thinking but it is based some facts of life.
here’s one… problems are unpredictable.
james says, whenever you face trials. the word face in greek is “peripipto.” it literally means “to fall into unexpectedly.” it is the same word used in the story of the good samaritan where the man fell among thieves – it was unexpected.
trials are not planned. we seldom can anticipate the problems we’re going to experience in life. that’s probably good because if we could anticipate them we’d run the other way and we wouldn’t get the benefit from them.
we are facing a hurricane this weekend here on long island. it is unplanned and unpredictable – we least expected it to come to new york. that’s what makes a problem a problem. often it’s inconvenient when you fall into it.
here is another one… problems of many kinds.
they come in all shapes and sizes. one thing about problems: you don’t get bored with them; there are a wide variety of them.
now the word in greek for many kinds is literally “multi colored.” have you ever tried to match paint? there are problems of many shades and varieties.
they vary in intensity, they vary in variety, they vary in duration. some are minor inconveniences. some are major crises. we have all kinds and shapes of problems. they come in more than 31 flavors. some problems are custom made for you.
here is a sign: “into every life rain must fall, but this is ridiculous.” an earthquake and a hurricane on long island in the same week? lots of varieties in our life.
just a thought from the front porch..
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