
The company that started the Life is Good t shirts was started by Bert and John Jacobs. In 1989 they designed their first tee shirt, but they knew nothing about the business. For five years they hawked t shirts in the streets of Boston and sold door-to-door, but they weren't very prosperous. Their first day of selling Life Is Good t shirts they printed 48 shirts for a local street fair. They laid the shirts out on a card table and by noon all the shirts were gone. Their message of optimism caught on and now we see Life Is Good products all over the place. This "movement" began with just a desire to reach more people wiith a product and it morphed into a very recognizable saying.
In James 1 James is trying to give all believers a positive"shot in the arm" and that shot includes some necessary ingredients that will give us a sense of optimism to keep us serving God. That realization of God's plan and what makes it work is found in the following verses. 2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
Wow! What a message! First of all, there is a guarantee of troubles coming if you are a believer. Bummer, or not? In verse 3 James shares that the testing of our faith will be trials and those trials are developing our faith. Why develop our faith? Because we are in a battle and the enemy attacks at, you guessed it; our faith! God's people live by faith. So if the enemy is going to attack anything it will be our faith. James is getting right to the point about faith and how necessary it is and how much we need to grow it. In verse 4 James says a very important statement where he says "let it grow!"
Let it grow, let it grow, not holding back anymore!!! Oops! Frozen is the opposite temperature of what our faith should be. Our faith should be "red hot!" Just don't hold back the growth of your faith in Christ. Oh, the troubles are real. I get so discouraged from time to time about some things I am going through and it just eats away at.....you guessed it, my faith! Satan has been after me my entire life and if it weren't for God develping my faith through trials, I would have fallen long ago. So I am compelled to say "God thank you for helping me through my troubles."
So in the midst of things not going the way I want them to I need to say "Life Is Good." Because according to the scripture in James 1:2-4 the end result is needing nothing. Wow! NOTHING? Let me share the early translation of that word. It means "nothing." If we truly believe God's Word is true we will hold to this great truth of how to handle troubles and come out on the other side needing nothing. Nothing? Nothing! Life Is Good!
The Pilgrimage continues.....
David Warrem
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