Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.

James 1:2, NASB

Perhaps you have heard the example of the little boy who was outside with his mom when they came across a caterpillar. The boy got a jar and took the caterpillar home and would watch it eat the leaves his mama said were good for food. One day the boy was shocked to find that the caterpillar was gone but that there was a funny looking pouch hanging from a twig that the leaves had been attached to. The boy's mama told him that God designed the caterpillar so that at a certain time in its life it would weave a cocoon just like the one they had found. After a while, the caterpillar would transform into a beautiful butterfly inside of the cocoon. The little boy was delighted and wondered if he could open the cocoon and see the butterfly, but his mama told him no, that he must be patient and allow the transformation to take place. When the caterpillar was changed into a butterfly, he would come out of that cocoon, so they must wait.

And while the boy was a good boy, he was still a boy, and when he saw the cocoon moving one day he decided he just had to do something. Soo he carefully started to "help" the butterfly by peeling away its cocoon, but he was shocked to find that the creature inside didn't appear to be like the butterfly he had been expecting. True, it did have wings, but they were so pitiful and weak that they weren't any use for flying. So the bug just wobbled around the jar for the rest of the day and when the boy woke up the next morning, it was dead.

In tears he confessed to his mama what he had done and she dried his tears and told him it was alright for she knew he had just been trying to help. But then she told him that there were just some things in life that are hard but that we still have to go through if we are to ever get strong enough to become what God wants us to be - just like that caterpillar needed the struggle to get strong enough to develop its wings.

And, of course, this is a large part of the lesson that God teaches us through the writings of James. It's not that He is cruel and wants us to suffer in life. But He does want us to have enough character and determination to see our struggles through. It is the necessary trials of life that allow us to develop into worthwhile people. A weightlifter knows that he must add weights that are uncomfortable to lift if he is ever going to be able to get stronger, so he endures the struggle. The runner knows that she has to push herself to the point where she is willing to power through the pain and fatigue if she is to ever become a champion.

In a like manner, we must be willing to endure the struggles of life if we are ever going to amount to anything. Life contains many tests that in the end will reveal to us and to God whether we are willing to serve Him in good times as well as in times of trial. But why? Why do we have to endure hard things to get something good? Wouldn't it be so much nicer if God would just make life "trial free" and then rewarded everyone with participant trophies along the way to heaven? I suppose in some people's minds this type of spiritual "welfare" is appealing, but you have to admit it doesn't make us very useful.

In the news not too many years ago was an incident involving a madman who was shooting children at a school. The police surrounded the classroom he had trapped the children in, but stood outside in the hall while he took more and more victims. Why did they do so? It was because those who had the authority of supervising did not want to place anybody at unnecessary risk. So those who had been entrusted with the safety of the innocent were prevented from doing their job, in essence, because it was too hard.

So, what's the point? The point is that God has designed us for an eternity of service. He has given us this "cocoon" stage of life to allow us to go through the struggles that will make us ready for that service. But if we falter in the day of trial - whether through our own weakness or through somebody coming along to "help" us - then we simply will never become prepared for the eternal service God has in store for us.

And just like a caterpillar whose struggle is taken away, we just might find ourselves with "wings" that just never developed to the point that we can actually fly someday. We were not created for a life of weak service. We were created for great things. And if we are ever going to achieve our potential for the Master in this life, then we are simply going to have to endure the struggles and the trials that come hand in hand with excellence. 

One more thing: Just as the weightlifting champions and gold medal runners will look back upon the struggle as having been more than worth it, those who consider the trials of life to be pure joy now, will look back upon them later as the very things that helped them become what they desired more than anything else: A worthwhile and useful servant for the Master! Do not despise the struggle, for this is what will make us what God intends for us to be!