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Hi, Nathan W. Bingham here. Before we get to today's episode, I wanted to make you aware of an upcoming travel opportunity with other listeners of Renewing Your Mind and friends of Ligonier, a Caribbean study cruise that sets sail next February. I'll be there, and Dr. Derek Thomas and Pastor Ken Jones will be our teachers as they lead us through the rich theological truths of Galatians 3.
Enjoy eight days of teaching, refreshment, and fellowship when you travel with us on this Caribbean study cruise. You can learn more and register at ligoniertours.com. I hope to see you there. Now on to today's episode.
There is a time limit that God has established on our pain and on our sorrow and on our grief and our afflictions, after which we will enter into a condition where pain will be no more, no more tears, no more pain, no more anxiety, no more sorrow, no more adversity.
Although there are many moments in life that are filled with great joy, there are also moments, even seasons perhaps, that can be filled with grief, sorrow, and pain. So how do we count it all joy and have this fruit of the Spirit in those seasons? Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and welcome to the Tuesday edition of Renewing Your Mind.
The world pursues pleasure, whereas the Christian is a person of joy, even in the midst of what could seem like unbearable or hopeless circumstances. How is that possible, and how can we cultivate that joy? Well, here's Dr. Sproul to remind us that we are to count it all joy.
One of the hardest lessons that we have to learn as Christians is how to be joyful in the midst of pain and in the midst of suffering. Remember, James tells us, count it all joy when you enter into sufferings and trials and tribulations. When I hear James say that, I pick up on the word that he gives at the beginning when he says, count it all joy.
Now, what does he mean when he says, count it all joy? It's one thing to have joy and be in a state of joy and to be rejoicing, and it's another thing to count it as such. The word or the concept here is the idea of reckoning or of considering or of deeming something.
That is, even when we're not feeling joyful about the sufferings we're enduring, we are called upon to count it, that is, consider it. as a matter of joy.
Not because the thing itself we are enduring is something that is pleasurable, but rather the reason we are to count it joy is because, as James tells us, as Peter tells us, as the whole New Testament tells us, that tribulation and pain and suffering work patience within us. so that there is at least something good happening to us even in the midst of pain and suffering and affliction.
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