When Will I Ever Use this in REAL Life?

That question is uttered by more students in high schools taking Trigonometry and Calculus than any other class, by my estimation . There are a great many things in this life that we simply do not see the use for when we are experiencing it. We look at difficult things we endure and wonder, “Why me?” If you have ever found yourself in a difficult situation asking yourself that question, you may have found comfort in a few verses in the beginning of the book of James:

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

The answer to why we go through difficult circumstances and unpleasant events in life is so that we might become stronger. In the same way that gold is refined by fire, our character is refined by the difficult things we endure.

The gold refining process is an interesting example for our lives. When gold is brought in to be refined, the fire is turned up so that the gold melts down and the impurities within it float to the surface. The refiner then skims those impurities off the top, leaving a purer gold in the fire. Once the gold is allowed to cool, it is then put back into the fire, except the fire is turned up higher and hotter, and more of the impurities float to the top and are skimmed off. This process is repeated until no impurities are left rising to the top, and you have pure gold.

Do you get it? Look at your life. When do your impurities and your character flaws show themselves most often? Answer: When you are going through something extremely difficult. When difficult circumstances arise, our goal is to skim those impurities out of our lives. Fight the urge to lash out in anger. Fight the urge to throw a bad attitude at the ones you love. You will be purer for it when you come through the other side of the difficulty.

So once I go through one difficult circumstance or painful experience, I’m done, right? I wish. Unfortunately, life continually throws pain and discomfort our way. This is the part of refining your character where the fire gets turned up higher and hotter and you become more pure through the more difficult trials you endure. Our experiences as an individual build on one another and help us to deal with more and more stressful trials.

Look at yourself as you are now. Think of all the difficulties you have gone through in the past and think of how those things have made you purer. Perhaps now you are more patient, more compassionate, more loving, more generous. In reality, the list of benefits we receive from enduring difficult things is quite long. Now look at the troubles you are currently having to endure. The difficulties you endured in the past ARE helping you to cope with whatever it is you are currently dealing with.

When we ask ourselves, “Why me,” the answer is plain. To make you strong. If you were already strong, it is to make you stronger. Through your difficulties you are able to be refined, to be made purer. Our difficulties (which can seem endless at times) provide us opportunities to grow into better people than we are currently. Don’t waste your opportunities! Use them, and become purer and more like Christ through them.

That’s how you use James 1:2-4 in “real life” .