James wrote this letter to the twelve dispersed tribes of Israel. If there is a single theme in the letter, it is "have an active faith." After very brief introduction, James gets right down to business.

1:1-2

How should Christians handle trials?
James says the proper response to tough times is joy (v. 2).

Huh? Yes, joy. He didn’t say “happiness.”

Happiness and Joy are usually different words in Greek (chairo vs. chara). You don’t need to know Greek to see how similar those words look to each other. That’s because they are related:
- Happiness is an emotion.
- Joy is an attitude.

Put differently,:
- Happiness is how I feel.
- Joy is how I am, the condition of my heart.

1:3-4
Why should I be joyful during tough times? James answers that question, too.

It is because:
• Trials test my faith
• Faith-testing develops perseverance in me (v.3)
• Perseverance develops maturity and completeness, and
• Completeness means I lack nothing (v. 4).

In short, trials should bring me joy because they will result in me having everything I need!

James knows this isn’t the most natural response to trials, so he addresses three barriers to experiencing joy:
• A lack of wisdom
• A weak faith
• A misguided perspective on the importance of my earthly life


1:5
Wisdom is a simple thing to acquire. All I have to do is ask. I don't even have to clean up my life first! If I ask God for wisdom, he'll give it to me without finding fault (v. 5).

King Solomon asked God for wisdom and he received it, but he didn't clean up his life even after receiving it. That ended up disastrously for him.

If we want God's wisdom, it's a good idea to be willing to let Him change us, too. But James says holy living is not a prerequisite. Ask God, and He'll give you wisdom without finding fault in me.

1:6-8
Weak Faith. There is one thing that will prevent God from giving me wisdom.

Doubt. If I doubt, I am double-minded. Think about that. It makes perfect sense. If I ask God for wisdom in handling trials and then doubt that He'll actually lead me through them, I am believing two opposing things – that God will lead me through and that God won't lead me through.

It's like someone sitting at a stop sign and deciding to turn both right and left at the same time. We'd say someone like that is "unstable," and so does James: "he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does" (v. 8).

If this is you - asking and then not believing – then admit to yourself that your doubt is stronger than your trust. You are likely unstable in other areas of your life, too. Perhaps God is using these trials in your life to first get that part of yourself under control?

1:9-12
Misguided perspective on the importance of your earthly life (1:9-12)

James throws a twister in these verses. He says:
• Someone who is poor (i.e., "who is in humble circumstances") has a high position (v. 9)
• Someone who is wealthy (i.e., “who is rich") is in a low position (v. 10)

This is certainly different than the way we would naturally describe things. We use phrases like "high socioeconomic class" to refer to rich people and "low socioeconomic class" to refer to poor people.

What is James' point? Is he saying that we should all strive to be financially poor?

Not exactly. He isn’t saying one is better than the other. His message is that wealth will eventually fade away, so it's irrelevant – neither good nor bad. Wealth has absolutely no bearing on what really matters.

To both the rich and the poor he says "take pride in your position."

The Greek word translated "take pride" is elsewhere translated "rejoice," such as in this parallel passage in Romans 5:1-4:

“Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand [this is what really matters!]. And we rejoice [there’s that “joy” word] in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice [“joy” again] in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope [sound familiar?].”

James 1:9-10 is more literally translated from the Greek as "The brother in humble circumstance ought to rejoice in his high position, and the one who is rich in his low position, because each will pass away like wild flowers."

James' point is that neither one matters. Both types of people should rejoice where they are. Poor people should rejoice that they have a position far greater than that (independent of temporary stuff) and rich people should rejoice that they have a position much lower than that (i.e., not so dependent on stuff that is temporary).

Isaiah reminds us that "The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2:11, repeated in Isaiah 2:17).

Or, as the old Russian proverb says, "at the end of the chess game, the king and the pawn go back into the same box."

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I'll conclude by with some questions for discussion or pondering.
1:2
• Do you consider facing trials as something to be joyous about?
• What does it take to make us actually joyous in our trials?
• Is there any kind or trial that people shouldn’t be happy to face?

1:4
• What does James say should motivate the joy we experience during trials? What does he suggest we think about or realize about the trials?
• What is an example of a trial you’ve faced where you should have “considered it pure joy??” How did you actually react to the trial?
• James says that we can "not lack anything." When you don’t lack anything, you have everything! What does he say causes us to "have everything?"

1:5
• How "perfect" do we need to be to get wisdom from God?
• What is required for us to have God’s wisdom?

1:8
• What does "double-minded" mean? [Think of a different type of example of double-mindedness in action, similar to my example of wanting to turn both left and right at a stop sign]
• How is asking God for wisdom and then doubting the wisdom He gives you similar to that?

1:11
• James just said in verses 3-4 that facing trials with joy makes us have everything. Anyone who has everything is rich! Now he talks about people who are poor [in "humble circumstances"] and people who are rich in worldly goods. What does he say each kind of person should take pride in?

1:12
• This verse goes back to verses 3-4 - "Perseverance" comes from facing trials. What does he say happens if we do persevere in our trials?
• So, with all of this, what is God’s ultimate goal in allowing us to face trials?
• What should our lives look like the next time we face a trial? What should people be able to see if, for instance, we develop a serious disease, our house burns down, we become crippled, or we lose our sources of income?

V2 Consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials... because the testing of your faith produces perserverance.

We all face trials. Its not about how many times we get knocked down. It's about how we respond. Christians turn to God in difficult times and ask him to help us through. Trials in life present a testing of our faith. Perseverance produces wisdom, maturity, growth.

I recently learned that the average emotional age of adults is 12 years old. Our upper cortex is like the rider, and our subconscious mind is like the horse. When we are under pressure we lose control of the horse and we resort to 12 year old tactics (this is the automatic program that our subconscious mind runs). We feel very stressed, we tend swear, kick things, cry, etc... whatever we learned as a 12 year old.

Paul's message is summarized in v12.

Blessed is the one who preserves under trial..

With God's help we can use our spiritual connection to remain in control of the house (our subconscious mind).

We can use strategies like meditation and prayer.

For my life application I have been going through trials in my job. Working 7 days a week... holidays... toxic work environment around my boss... culture of drinking alcohol to cope with stress.

I'm learning that alcohols most immediate effect is that I lose control of the horse and my subconscious mind drives me in the wrong direction.

Perserverance is important... we must realize that we can only persevere with a sober and healthy mind.

I'm making a major career change and going to try to focus on living more consciously... beautifully.

Talk beautifully
Walk beautifully
Love beautifully

This will take dedication, discipline and perseverance. Most of all I will need His help every day.