James had been talking about enduring trials to grow faith and patience in order to gain perfection. This daily devotional looks at the reward for doing that.
Nuggets
- God would never give us motive or incentive to sin.
- Remaining faithful to the end earns us the crown of life.
- Our own lusts do the tempting.
Devotions in Living Out Our Faith series
James has been telling us that we need to endure through our times of trials. This is how we reach perfection/maturity.
That isn’t all we get for enduring. God blesses us.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Reward for Enduring the Trials
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (Jas. 1: 12 ESV)
Remaining faithful to the end earns us the crown of life.
Endurance can be secured when we have the wisdom telling us how to do so. We may know what we want to do and are supposed to do. It won’t be easy.
Living a life for God does have its struggle built in. No, it isn’t going to be smooth sailing.
We are going against our human nature. We are going counterculture to the world.
How is our lives going to be easy doing that?
Because it isn’t easy and we need all the help we can get, God sent the Holy Spirit to live within us in love and power. He prompts us to do what is right. He teaches us so that we can grow in our faith.
Those who endure will be blessed. “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt. 21: 13 ESV).
Sherwood reminded us that this isn’t something we are going to earn. It is going to be a gift of grace.
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What does that mean to me? It means mature, not perfect.
We are going to mess up. We won’t be able to do everything exactly right.
We ask forgiveness, and God will forgive us. He understands we can’t do it without Him.
No, that doesn’t give us license to sin. It does give us confidence that when we sin — and we will — God will forgive us and bless us.
What it comes down to is the answer to the question, “How are we going to live our lives as we are walking through them?” We want to be living it for God.
If we do this, we will be rewarded. Irons described our reward, the crown of life, as “… her crown of distinction, and dignity, and attainment.” It is a crown of glory.
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This is understandable. Blessedness means we have been perfected.
We have been blessed with perfection and eternal life because we have endured the temptations and remained steadfast in our faith for and love of God.
God Is not to Blame
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (Jas. 1: 13 ESV)
God would never give us motive or incentive to sin.
Satan tempts us. Temptation is a suggestion in our mind that would lead us to sin rather than following God’s Will. It is also that period of time between conception and execution of doing what is sinful.
Temptations may come from Satan himself. He may put thoughts and doubts into our heads.
Other times, Satan may use others to introduce us to what he wants us to do. It may be people we know or people we don’t know.
God never tempts us. Why would He? He can’t sin and doesn’t want us to sin.
God won’t try to persuade us to sin. That would be inconsistent with His character.
Instead, God tests us to confirm our faith. Many times, as with any test, the Teacher is silent when we take them.
The testing comes out of God’s love for us. He wants us to become more like Him. The trials will get us there.
Abernethy said that God isn’t going to tempt us in order to draw those most likely to be susceptible to the temptation. He isn’t weeding out the weak. That would make Him an accessory to sin.
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Either testing or temptations, we have to endure it. We have to show our dependence on God without wavering.
Let’s be clear on something. The temptation itself isn’t a sin. What we do with the temptation could be. If we choose to break God’s laws and commandments or not follow His express Will, we have sinned.
If we are struggling to make the choice but choose to follow God, we have not sinned.
That being said, the Evangelical Preacher talked about not letting the temptation hinder our growth. Any time that struggles take our eyes and minds off God, it is impeding our growth.
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We want to be progressing on the Sanctification Road at a consistent pace.
We Are to Blame
“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (Jas. 1: 14-15 ESV)
Our own lusts do the tempting.
Remember, temptation is that time between conception of the idea to sin and the commission of the sin.
Satan entices us to sin by using our own desires that reside deep within us. He uses the you-know-you-want-this spiel quite often.
Does Satan know what is in our hearts? He isn’t omnipotent as God is. Omnipotent means all-powerful. Neither is he omniscient, which means all-knowing.
Satan may not be all-knowing, but he does know us enough to know where our weak points are. He know enough to get us to turn our focus off of God.
Also known to Satan is what props to use to with which to tempt us. He knows what we would consider bright and shiny to catch our eyes.
Making the Connections
Watson put it all in perspective. He wrote, “Every circumstance of daily life becomes a trial of our virtue. The wealth we have, the talents we possess, the station in life we occupy, our knowledge, our leisure, our business capacity are all tests of character whereby we prove to God and man what we are living for — whether we are living all for self and the world, or whether we are living for anything nobler, purer, better. And not only as individuals are we thus tested, but as communities and nations.”
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Every second of our entire lives as disciples presents an opportunity for God to test us and Satan to tempt us. Will we choose to choose God’s way and endure?
It should be our desire to grow our faith. But that, in itself, causes an instability.
We are to be content in our lives but not content with where we are at on the Sanctification Road.
How Do We Apply This?
- Endure the temptations and trials of life so that we may receive the crown of life.
- When tempted, evaluate the temptation to determine what went wrong and what judgment should be made.
- Determine where temptations are more apt to induce us to sin.
- Maintain our integrity.
- Watch for temptations.
Resource
Father God. We thank You for Your mercy. We do not want to give into temptations and sin. We want our character to be as Yours is. Strengthen us to face the temptations listening to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Amen.
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