I struggle with the idea of being joyful during trials. I know James said, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing<\/em>” (James 1:2-4), but I have a hard time doing this.<\/p>\n\t James is telling to find joy in the outcome of trials, though the trial itself is not pleasant. “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards<\/strong> it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness<\/em>” (Hebrews 12:11). In other words, after the trial is over, how do you categorize it? Do you moan and grumble that you had to go through with it? Or, while you admit it wasn’t fun at the time, do you look back and are glad that you experienced it because it made you into a stronger Christian?<\/p>\n The Greek word\u00a0hegeomai<\/em> has two sets of meaning: 1) lead or guide, 2) think, consider, esteem, or count. What you count something to be is not always what that thing actually is.<\/p>\n “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering<\/strong> the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:24-26).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The reproach of Christ is not wealth, but Moses counted it as a greater treasurer than all the wealth of Egypt.<\/p>\n “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered<\/strong> me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus<\/em>” (I Timothy 1:12-14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Paul’s earlier life was not exemplary of a faithful servant to Christ; yet, Jesus was willing to count his past differently. This led to Paul’s deep appreciation of the grace extended to him. From a worldly standpoint, Paul’s past life was that of a devote Pharisee and perhaps a position one day on the Sanhedrin Cout. But Paul said, “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted<\/strong> as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count<\/strong> all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ<\/em>” (Philippians 3:7-8). As valuable as his past life might have been, Paul now considers them to be trash in comparison to what he has in Christ.<\/p>\n I think James is speaking of trials in the same fashion. However difficult they might have been, when you see the outcome, the trials can be categorized as a joy because of what it produced.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I struggle with the idea of being joyful during trials. I know James said, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4),…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[374,1287,182,188],"class_list":["post-30958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-happiness","tag-joy","tag-suffering","tag-trials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68062,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-any-of-you-lacks-wisdom\/","url_meta":{"origin":30958,"position":0},"title":"If Any of You Lacks Wisdom","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton James speaks of the wisdom to see our trials as opportunities to perfect our faith and develop durability, endurance, or patience. We can choose to count it all joy, see how to grow deeper in faith, or we can let the trials beat us down and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61721,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/count-it-all-joy\/","url_meta":{"origin":30958,"position":1},"title":"Count It All Joy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton It's not what happens to you that matters so much as what you do with what happens to you. Who would have thought that Helen Keller would have mattered so much with all the handicaps she was dealt in life? Great people of great faith learn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32895,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/james-on-trials\/","url_meta":{"origin":30958,"position":2},"title":"James on Trials","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: James 1:1-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book of James is written to Jewish Christians who were scattered by persecution - Acts 8:1-4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This is one indication that James is one of the first books written \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is that persecution that sets up the theme for the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10927,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/questions-about-james-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":30958,"position":3},"title":"Questions about James 1","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read the first chapter, it was only a page so I hope its the right one.\u00a0 I think I got most of it. It talks about being joyful for the trials because they give you patience. the more you face things the easier it gets?\u00a0 Then it says\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88642,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-so-hard\/","url_meta":{"origin":30958,"position":4},"title":"Is It So Hard?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Does the Christian life at times seem more than you can bear? May these thoughts from Hebrews chapter 12 encourage you! Others Have Overcome \"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [the heroes of faith in chapter 11], let us also lay\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58557,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/patience-the-art-of-persevering-in-this-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":30958,"position":5},"title":"Patience: The Art of Persevering in this Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Forrest D. Moyer As Peter continued to list the characteristics that one must add, he named \"patience\" as being essential in our lives to keep us from falling and to insure us a part in the \"everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior\" (II Peter 1:5-11). James wrote: \"Indeed,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n