John & Abigail Adams are one of my favorite couples from history. He was, of course, the 2nd President of the United States, and they were both Christians. He was away from home a lot, either serving in Congress or on diplomatic missions, so they wrote a lot of letters back & forth, which have been preserved in a book, called My Dearest Friend, which is the way they would always address each other in their letters: “My Dearest Friend.” Once Abigail wrote to John about some difficulties they were facing at home, but then she added: “I hate to complain. No one is without difficulties, whether high or low in life, and every person knows best where their own shoe pinches.” (David McCullough, John Adams, p. 423)
There’s a lot of truth to what she said, isn’t there? NO ONE is without difficulties. (And that’s a great expression: “every person knows best where their own shoe pinches”!) We ALL have difficulties. Who doesn’t? We could scan down the list of all the members and families in our church today, and see that many of us are going through various trials. Some of us would say today, “Count ME in that number; I am going through the fire right now too!” We ALL do at various times. If we’re not “going through the fire” right now — we will be soon! We all go through trials in life.
That’s why I believe the message we are looking at today is an important one for many of us, because ALL of us have either been through a trial, are in one now, or WILL be in one soon! When James wrote the first words of instruction in his book, “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,” he was writing to people like US! The first-century Christians James addressed in his book were facing suffering; there’s evidence of that all through this book. Much of the Book of James deals with how God’s people, those who have genuine faith, are to respond to the trials that we face. They show us “What Tested Faith Looks Like”:
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