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12 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.
God now takes his exhortation in verses 3–4—“…the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”—and reinforces it by a great promise in verse 12, “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.”
Jesus Christ walked this lonesome valley ahead of you. He successfully remained steadfast under all his trials. And so God exalted him to the highest place and gave him a name above every name. And by his atoning blood and perfect righteousness, Jesus won and secured eternal life for all whom the Father had given him. Thus, if you belong to Christ, then your full salvation is secure. You will “be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing…” But the Holy Spirit applies that salvation in the course of your life. Those whom God justifies, he also sanctifies. He “Christianizes the Christian.” Accordingly, the pattern of your full salvation follows the pattern of Christ’s life— now you must endure the cross, but God is waiting for you with a crown.
“God has promised … the crown of life … to those who love him.” Do you love him? We love him because he first loved us. One believer is suffering deeply. Does God care? Indeed he does, and he’s waiting for his redeemed child with a crown. Another believer is enjoying smooth sailing. This too is a test a faith. It’s a different kind of trial, but it’s still a trial. He’s tempted to forget God, but he loves him, so he presses on in faith. Does God care? Indeed he does, and he is waiting for his redeemed child with a crown. In love, he superintends the way of each of his own. He will never overlook or forget you or what you must endure.
God is bringing trials into your life, whatever they may be, whether poverty or wealth, pain or pleasure. Either way, they are tests of faith. How are you responding? Do you persist in trusting God? Do you keep in mind that you are a pilgrim on your way to your true home, the heavenly Promised Land, and to the true blessing, the crown of life? Or are you instead wallowing in self-pity or in self-seeking or in self-indulgence? Those are sins, responses of unbelief. Repent of unbelief and sin. Remember that God tests believers so as to make them steadfast so as to give them the crown of life. Bear in mind that your temporal trials have an eternal purpose—to bring you ultimate blessing. And thus encouraged, rejoice that God is using your experiences and circumstances in this life toward that end and resolve to abide in Christ and to bloom where he has planted you.
Click here for background on the author of Are You For Real?: Meditations in the Epistle of James for Secret or Family Worship.
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