Count It All Joy

“My brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY when ye fall into diverse temptations.” James 1:2 [KJV]

A lot of Christians take that verse all wrong, to their own frustration and hurt; and sadly, they often use it to accuse God of something He doesn’t do.

Now, to me, these are encouraging words. Here’s why: I know something, and it’s good. Verse 3 says, “KNOWING this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Whose faith? YOUR faith. He’s speaking to conquerors… overcomers. Does the trying of everybody’s faith work patience? No. The trying of some people’s faith ends in defeat, and ruin… not patience… not anything good.

Now, as an overcomer, you can KNOW that the trying of YOUR faith worketh patience, and you can count it all joy. If you DON’T know that, or you’re not sure what the outcome of the trial will be, it would be pretty tough to see any joy in it. As a matter of fact, if the trying of your faith ends in defeat and destruction, there’s really no reason at all to count it joy.

That’s why verse 12 says, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.” Who gets the crown of life when he is tried? The man that ENDURETH temptation. It doesn’t say that every man that is tried receives a crown of life. The man that loves Him, ENDURES, and receives the crown. “Endureth” means he doesn’t fall. Like a tree that’s still standing unbroken after the storm. The tree that gets uprooted didn’t “endure”. The man that gets uprooted by the temptation is not promised a crown of life.

Condensed, this is what it’s saying: IF YOU KNOW that you’re still going to be standing after the temptation (storm) is past, and that the trial will work patience (steadfastness, toughness, endurance) in you, and that ultimately you will receive the crown of life, you should, and will, count it all joy, from beginning to end.

Are we, as faithful Christians, going to be tried and tempted? No question about it. (As long as we hold to God’s definition of “tried and tempted”.) Jesus was tempted. And not just in the wilderness. He said to His disciples at the last supper, “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.” Luke 22:28[KJV] Jesus was alone during those 40 days in the wilderness, so He had to have also been tempted during His time with the disciples. He never wavered, and He IS our example.

Now, you don’t have to doubt whether you can stand or not, because God has promised, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 [KJV] Again, “bear it” is a victory term. It doesn’t mean being so weighted down that you lose your joy and strength. It means standing strong, steadfast, immovable, unfazed.

We can KNOW we’re not going to fall! So count it all joy! There’s a crown of life in store.

(To keep this short, I’m not getting into who does the trying and tempting, and why and how, right now. So dig into the Word… it might be different than you think.)