The Power of Choice

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." (James 1:2‭-‬4 MSG)

Fascinating that the word here is that. "Consider".
The Hebrew meaning: To lead or To think, be of the opinion of

What's most interesting to me is that according to both the Strongs and the Greek Concordance this is the only occurrence of this Hebrew phrase here in the Bible.

"Consider it all"

Why use that phrase? Why those words? Why this term?

Consider.

When I think of considering something the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that you choose to think about it. So often in life, it feels as if things just happen and we're expected to somehow accept it. Even with thinking about this scripture and what it's actually saying about our existence and I get frustrated.

So basically the bible is just telling me that bad things are gonna happen, moments are going to be tough and painful and I'm supposed to just put on a happy face and move on?

Well, that doesn't feel very encouraging when you say it out loud. I was in quite a funk yesterday. Somehow the mixture of a rainy day with suddenly a bright sunny evening left me melancholy and straight in my feels. Do you ever have those days where you are just so aware of everything around you (politics, finances, feelings, to-do lists, anxieties, etc.) that it launches you into a spiral of frustration Maybe it's just me but it was almost as if I was upset that I was "aware".

I mean ignorance is bliss isn't just a catchy phrase. It really feels at times that it is all we're hungry for. A time when we didn't have to think about all the ways in which the world is failing us. We could just play, imagine and dream. Oh, what a time.

But it keeps bringing me back to this scripture. This word. It is a powerful thing to "consider". When you can do so much and think about so much and yet you elect to focus on a specific event, emotion, or experience that is impactful. So when the Bible tells me to "Consider" tests, challenges, trials, pain, heartbreak, and frustrations as "sheer gifts" then I know there must be some level of purpose to that beyond just the quality sound bites of encouragement.

If the Bible is saying we must consider it then there is a world where we choose to not. We're given the opportunity to not consider these experiences. We deny them. Reject them. I know depending on the day I can be the biggest example of pushing past feelings, experiences, and heartbreak in order to get to the other side. But the older I get the more I ponder on this concept of "what other side?"

If obstacles, challenges, and trials are to be guaranteed. If highs and lows will always be then running away from the aforementioned lows because of how they feel temporarily then we're in line for a rude awakening the next time one is bound to slap us in the face. However, if we instead elected to see each moment as just a stepping stone towards the greater destiny then it's possible that these moments would lose their validity as negative burdens but rather evolve into what the Bible relays as "sheer gifts". Something worth counting as pure joy.

There may be pain in it all but there's POWER IN CHOICE.
There's power in considering.
When we subscribe to that power and repurpose how we observe the situations that will inevitably arise in our lives then do we begin to unlock the perspective God always intended for us.

A spiritual maturity that positions our perspective.

Our lives become clearer. Our paths more concrete in the truth that greater is on the way. Everything is working out for our good according to HIS purpose. (Romans 8:28) We grow confident in the destiny set before us and it becomes easier (not perfect) but easier to then be present for someone else's trials and tribulations. And that is the infectious spirit of optimism at its core. Not a blind and naive faith walk but an active and purposeful choice to see what is in front of you as growth opportunities.

To consider is to choose.
And there's nothing more freeing.
Nothing more powerful than that.