James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
Verses like these are where reality hits us. It’s where prosperity preaching and the baseless, yet ever present, idea that a Christians life should be easy and carefree, find their end. For James speaks of blessing not the man without temptation, but the man who endures it. Furthermore, he speaks that when one endures and is approved, that he shall receive the crown of life. But when can a believer expect to receive such a crown? Is it not only at the Bema Seat of Christ as we enter the Eternal Kingdom? If then, we receive this crown once we’ve been approved through temptation, and the crown doesn’t come until the Day of the Lord, then it is only rational to understand that our own testing and temptation shall continue until our death. For we cannot by any means be wholly approved here and now, else by the crown of life, we, in our fallen flesh, live forever in sin. A Christian’s life therefore, is itself in fact the temptation and is in fact the trial. For at every moment we are urged to walk in the ways of our fallen nature, to please our sensations, and exalt our own name. Praise to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that we have His Spirit to overcome such desire! And we then can glory in Christ. However, as we are established in faith, and by faith put the flesh into submission, it is the character of Satan himself to stir up a rebellion in our trust towards God. He will surely take your wealth and health to see where your treasure is, rather her or in heave. He will gladly revolt your family against you to see if you are worthy of discipleship (Matt. 10:34-39), and with great joy he will put you on the edge of disaster, hoping against hope that you will unanchor yourself from God’s word in worry, and fall without harness. In these things we are tested to prove, rather we are wheat, or rather we are tares (Matthew 13:24-30), and by faith alone we are approved. 1:13, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” So we are instructed in the understanding, that though God uses trials and temptations to mold and approve us, He can in no way be the author of our tempting. For being absent from all evil, He instills evil in no one. 1:14, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” So it is not God, but our own nature to desire that entices us. Our very existence is a fight to fed the Spirit, that the flesh may be starved of its illegitimate power and authority. 1:15, “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” We could certainly entertain the flesh. In fact, doing so is the most prevalent and available option to all people at all times, but to do so is to welcome death. To do so is to label ourselves as unapproved. The very nature of the flesh is to sin, and the very nature of sin is in fact death. Yet it is the very nature of God’s Spirit to bring forth life, and if we walk by the Spirit, we are not under the law of death (Galatians 5:16-18), and if we are not under the law, there is no judgment or death to be foreseen. Temptation is then a simple invitation to once again shackle ourselves in chains to the enemy, but to be a child of God through Christ is to be free, and those of us who are free, are free indeed. Temptations will come, and even as we grow in faith and love, they will not cease, but count it all joy my brethren, for to overcome is to prove ourselves children, more so even heirs, and to overcome is life everlasting. Stand strong and do not entertain the Kingdom of Death, but endure as witnesses to the Kingdom of Light. Find your strength in the Lord and fight through prayer, through praise, and through the reading of His word, for in all these things we give our flesh over to the Spirit that we may walk in Him. For if we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Go, and be blessed.
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