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Joy in Trials: Life lessons from the gym

by James Barringer  
3/30/2010 / Christian Living

I have knobby elbows.

I have known this for a long time, and it's always made me somewhat self-conscious. I'm serious: my elbows are huge; they're the widest parts of my arms. A month or so ago, I decided (for perhaps the dozenth time) to do something about it, and started exercising. For perhaps the first time, I'm still doing it a month later, and although my elbows are still knobby, the rest of my arms are catching up to them.

There's a funny thing about exercise, namely that it's extremely painful and yet I want to do it. I worked the night shift tonight and spent the last hour fantasizing about how I was going to blow up my arms when I got home (that's a good thing, for you non-weightlifters). And I did. They're still aching now, half an hour later, and I will be disappointed if they're not aching tomorrow morning. What kind of crazy mental disorder do I have, to take bizarre pleasure in something so painful?

It's not a mental disorder at all, merely that I'm extremely excited about the end result, and willing to pay any price in order to get it. I'm by no means unique. I could point to the students who endure four years of seminary, often juggling full-time jobs or ministry positions at the same time, scavenging four hours of sleep a night because the end result is worth it. I could point to the people in the world who work sixty or more hours a week for that promotion; from where they sit, the work is worth it. There's a common thread running through everyone who endures a trial with a smile on their face: they know exactly why they're doing it.

That's why two different writers in the Bible, Paul and James, have the hubris to tell us that we should be joyful when trials come into our lives. Have you ever read one of those passages and just wanted to punch the author in the face? Joy in trials, my rumpus. They wouldn't be called trials if they were joyful occasions.

Yet right there it is, in Romans 5, where Paul advises us, "Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame." James 1 phrases it similarly: "You know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness (endurance). And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

You will observe, just like I said, that any person can endure any trial happily as long as they have their eyes on the end result. It should be no surprise, then, that Paul and James both, independently of each other, urge us to look past the trial and to the end result. "Forget the pain," is the message, "and think of how awesome this might be for you. Think of how you will grow as a result of it. You've been praying for patience, for more faith, for more courage all your life - here's your chance!"

This doesn't explain why so many people willingly agonize over the weight bench or the study desk but balk when real-life problems come knocking, but I think I have an answer for that. It has to do with control. When I'm lifting, I stop when it hurts me. I do the number of reps I want to and then I stop. When trials come, they come on their own time and stay for however long they want to, often long after we've given up pleading with God for them to go away. That's what makes it hard to find the joy in them. When the trial is new, we might even be excited about the potential, but after six months without a job or four months of your wife nagging you or whatever the trial might be, the trial itself balloons so big that we can't see the end result past it. That's why it's so hard to have joy.

How much do I value being stronger? Enough that I'm willing to put in the hard work, endure the pain, in order to get what I want. How much do you and I, as Christians, really value the things Paul and James speak of: character, patience, hope? Honestly, I think that if God gave us a choice: "You can choose character and endure a terrible trial or do without character," any of us would probably hesitate. "How bad a trial are we talking?" we'd ask God. Obviously we don't really value character that much, because we're not really willing to pay any price in order to get it. Oh, we'll pay a certain price, as long as it's not too high, but once the trial gets difficult we'll take the easy way out just to get God off our backs. Don't tell me you've never been tempted to take the easy way out of a trial before.

A better Biblical example comes from Jesus. Hebrews tells us that "for the joy set before him" he endured the cross. He was able to handle the cross because he knew what was on the other side of it and he wanted it. He wanted you and me for himself, and he wanted us so much that he was willing to pay any price in order to have us. In the same verse, Hebrews urges us to "fix our eyes on Jesus." In the same way that he looked past the cross to the joy beyond it, we are to look past our trials, to the character and hope and patience that await us on the other side, all of which are part of the process that's making us more and more like Jesus.

Jim Barringer is a 38-year-old writer, musician, and teacher. More of his work can be found at facebook.com/jmbarringer. This work may be reprinted for any purpose so long as this bio and statement of copyright is included.

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