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Glory · Our Walk with Him
God uses trials not to break us but to shape us: testing produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. Through suffering we are conformed into the image of Christ, depend on His grace, and grow in the holiness that belongs to Him. No trial feels good in the moment, but God works through it for our good and His glory.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/how-do-trials-make-us-more-like-christ · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
James 1:1-18
As you read: Count it all joy: how testing produces endurance, and the crown for those who endure.
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.
2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,
3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
6But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
7For let that man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;
10and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.
11For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his pursuits.
12Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.
13Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
14But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
15Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
16Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.
17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
18Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Romans 5:1-5
As you read: Paul's chain: suffering works perseverance, perseverance proven character, proven character hope.
1Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
2through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance;
4and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:
5and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Hebrews 12:1-13
As you read: Run with endurance; the Lord's discipline yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
1Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
4You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin;
5and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;
6For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”
7It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?
8But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.
9Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
10For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
11All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.
12Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,
13and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
1 Peter 1:3-9
As you read: Trials test faith like gold tested by fire, to praise, glory, and honor at Christ's revelation.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy became our father again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,
5who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials,
7that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—
8whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory—
9receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
James says, 'Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance,' and he adds, 'Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' Paul traces the same chain: 'suffering works perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.' The trial itself is not the goal; what it grows in us is.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”James 1:2-4
“Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:”Romans 5:3-4
“Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.”James 1:12
Peter writes of believers put 'to grief in various trials' so that 'the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.' The fire does not create the faith; it reveals and refines it, burning away the dross and showing what is real. Genuine faith, under pressure, is shown to be genuine.
“Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—”1 Peter 1:6-7
“knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”James 1:3
“that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—”1 Peter 1:7
Paul's great promise is that 'all things work together for good for those who love God,' and the good is defined: 'he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.' Hebrews adds that the Lord's chastening is 'for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness,' yielding 'the peaceful fruit of righteousness' to those trained by it. Suffering is not random; it is the Father's means of making us like His Son.
“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”Romans 8:28-29
“For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.”Hebrews 12:10
“All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.”Hebrews 12:11
“For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;”2 Corinthians 4:17
In the hard places we learn what Paul learned: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,' so that he glories in his weaknesses because when he is weak, then he is strong. Paul even traces the purpose of a crushing trial: 'that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.' Trials strip away self-reliance and teach us to lean on the God whose strength is made perfect in our need.
“He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.”2 Corinthians 12:9-10
“For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life. Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,”2 Corinthians 1:8-9
“He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.”2 Corinthians 12:9
This is why Scripture repeatedly connects suffering and joy: James says to count it all joy, Paul says we 'rejoice in our sufferings,' and Peter says believers 'greatly rejoice' even while grieved by trials, because the outcome is certain. We rejoice not in the pain itself but in what God is doing through it. Christ Himself 'learned obedience by the things which he suffered,' and we are being conformed to Him, one tested step at a time.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,”James 1:2
“Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering works perseverance;”Romans 5:3
“Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials,”1 Peter 1:6
“though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered.”Hebrews 5:8