Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory. Stronger than sight, sound, or even touch, our sense of smell is what is most remembered and able to transport our minds back to a particular time and place. The smell of bread, for example, has been known to invoke childhood memories, a favorite restaurant, or a specific grandparents' house. The smell of freshly baked bread is one of the greatest smells there is, even leading bakeries to position fans to blow the smell out into crowded streets so potential customers' mouths begin to water and they are drawn into the place of business. It's interesting to think about how such an uncomfortable process can produce something as warm, fluffy, sweet-smelling, and comforting as a loaf of bread. Think about it; an oven is required to bake bread. An oven is hot, dry, and harsh. The ingredients are mixed thoroughly and the dough is beaten into shape. At the end of the process, the finished product has gone through a lot to become what it is, and each step along the way was a necessary and vital step to produce that end result.

In the same way, your life will go through trials of many kinds. You will experience pain, loss, discipline, and suffering in one form or another. It cannot be escaped because these things are a very real part of the human experience in a fallen world. James begins his letter to the early church with a call to consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds. It seems like such a strange request to make, yet James was fully qualified, he himself having lived through decades of persecution, intimidation, maligning, slander, and opposition of many kinds. He had lost loved ones and faced many forms of pain, suffering, and loss. Yet James, through it all, reminds us of what is on the other side of pain. He learned to see the world around him through the lens of the spiritual and knew that on the other side of pain is an eternity of pure joy, peace, hope, love, and comfort.

So why not live with that perspective now? The trials we face and testing we go through will produce something in us. It does not have to be apathy, despair, or bitterness. Trials can produce faith, hope, and greater dependence on God if we allow it to. Pain is not in vain. There can be a purpose to the pain we experience. It can test and refine our faith and help to produce perseverance so that we become mature, not lacking anything. The word used in this passage for perseverance (or patience in some translations) is the greek word hupomone. The word comes from hupo (under) and meno (to stay, abide, remain). At its root, it means to remain under. It evokes the picture of someone under a heavy load and choosing to stay there instead of trying to escape. James would have been familiar with this weight, and in this way, he modeled the life of Jesus as well. Christ chose to remain under the weight and the burden of carrying our sin on the cross. At any point, Jesus could have left, given up, given in, and returned to heaven. Instead, he chose to remain under and endure the weight of sin, for our sake. Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Think about this in your own life. What is your natural response to pain or trials of many kinds? Do you approach these trials with joy in your heart, seeing them as an opportunity to grow closer to Christ? Or, do you more realistically view trials with a sense of agony and dread? Pray today that your heart and mind would be changed and transformed in this area. Pray that you would view whatever life throws at you with the eyes and mind of Christ, fully surrendered to what He wants to do in you and through you.