Stress Is Profitable

Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

—James 1:9–12

It has been said that a Christian is like a tea bag: he is not worth much until he has been through some hot water. And hot water—stressful trials—can be profitable to the believer. James illustrated this fact with his descriptions of the person with poverty, the person with plenty, and the person with pressure. Trials have a way of bringing all of us to the same level of need. They knock on the door of the little frame home with iron bars on the windows in the transitional neighborhood as well as on the door of the multimillion-dollar waterfront home behind the big iron gates.

Take the person with poverty. James said, “Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation.” James described here a person who is low on the socioeconomic level, relatively poor, and powerless. While the world might think little of him, God thinks much of him. Here is one of the mysteries of God’s economy: the last shall be first, and the low shall be made high in God’s sight. James encouraged this believing person to take pride in his high position. As a follower of Christ, he is of great worth to God and can rejoice in the spiritual things he can never lose. Jim Elliot, the missionary martyred by the Auca Indians, left us these words in his diary: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”^a The apostle Paul reminded us that “our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

James then turned his attention to the person with plenty. A beautiful thing about the church is that it is made up of all people. The early church was blessed with men of wealth such as Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and Barnabas. People blessed with material possessions may take pride in them, but Christians know that earthly treasures will one day rust, rot, or be devoured by moths. Poverty and plenty are temporary. No matter how much you have, someone else has more; no matter how little you have, someone else has less. Neither poverty nor plenty make for happiness in the Christian life. As Jesus taught, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). Those with plenty as well as those with poverty should rejoice in the spiritual things they cannot lose.

Another beautiful thing about the gospel is its leveling effect. In Jericho, Jesus and His disciples met two men on the same day. One was a man in poverty, the other a man with plenty. To Bartimaeus, the poverty-stricken blind beggar sitting on the side of the road, Jesus said, “Rise!” (Mark 10:49). To Zacchaeus, the wealthy tax collector perched in the tree, Jesus said, “Come down!” (Luke 19:5). What a picture of James’s point: the gospel has a leveling effect.

Switching his focus a bit, James wrote: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). Satan attempts to use our stressful trials to cause us to stumble, but the Lord allows them in order to strengthen our faith muscles so we can stand strong. James chose the word endures to indicate staying power. Here is a man who holds his ground and stands up under life’s stressful trials: he endures.

“Blessed”—happy—is the person who endures under stressful trials. Why? Because he knows that after the trial he will receive the “crown of life.” In the ancient Grecian games, a wreath was placed on the head of the victor as a sign of honor and triumph. This is the very crown the apostle Paul had in mind when, in some of the last words he wrote before being martyred, he said,

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7–8).

God has a special reward for those patient sufferers who endure their stressful trials. They win in the end.

Echoing the theme of James 1:12, the apostle John later recorded these words from the lips of our Lord: “Do not fear any of those things you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). No wonder Fanny Crosby, who herself endured the stress of a lifetime of blindness, said:

Great things He has taught us, great things He hath done,

And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;

But purer, and higher, and greater will be

Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.¹

A little boy once found a cocoon attached to a small branch of a tree. He took the branch home and kept it in his room. When spring came, he watched as the emerging butterfly began its struggle to escape from its prison. Wanting to help, the boy found a pair of small scissors and made a slight incision in the side of the cocoon. Soon the butterfly emerged in all its glory—but it never flew! Having avoided all the struggle of having to emerge from the cocoon, the butterfly’s wings never properly developed. The boy’s good intentions actually robbed the butterfly of its ability to soar. In James’s own words, “Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4).

Stress is a menace of modern man. It is predictable: it is a question of when, not if, and it’s not going away. It is problematic: left ignored, it can be physically, emotionally, and spiritually destructive. It is paradoxical: we can count it joy knowing that the outcome will be for our good and His glory. It is purposeful: the stress we now feel is there for a God-allowed purpose. It is often a time of testing, of stripping ourselves of false priorities. And it is profitable. Just think ahead: we win in the end.