Friday, September 25, 2009

Count It All Joy: But What Does That Mean?

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4 ESV)

In a recent Care Group a few weeks ago we spent close to 2 hours fleshing out these versus and their application to our lives and continued work of sanctification. And believe me, we only barely scratched the surface with these verses.

But the question was asked, "What is the Biblical definition of 'joy'?" What does it mean in this verse, and elsewhere in the Scripture? We know it's a fruit of the spirit, but what is it? What's it look like (or should look like) in our daily lives as we face a trial?

1 Comments:

At 9/29/2009 5:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I believe that joy is closely related to the hope we have in Christ. Since our sure hope is that we would be conformed to Christ's image, we can have joy in all our trials, since God is using such trials toward this end. Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (NASB).

God bless,

Stephanie

 

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