Joy

James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trial, knowing the that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

According to these verses, we can have joy in the midst of suffering when we focus on the end result.

James is not saying that need to be joyfull about the suffering, but we can have joy when we focus on what is to come. God is making us perfect and complete and we will lack nothing.

In High School I ran track. During practice we would often run 4 or 5 miles. Somewhere around mile 2 or 3 I would start to think, "Is is worth it?", but I would always keep going. I knew that any pain I might experience during practice would payoff when it came to the race. I needed to keep my eye on the goal.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us that we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. He is the source of our joy.

Do you have joy? Are you experiencing that deep abiding joy that comes only from God? Or are you allowing your circumstances to dictate your feelings?