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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
James 1:4, 12
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In yesterday’s opening message from our study of the New Testament letter of James, we found him wasting no time sending words of instruction to the Hebrew Christians he was writing to.
The message was in the form of a command as he implored his readers to consider and embrace joy when experiencing life’s difficulties and challenges, definitely a counterintuitive urging as people rarely view times of hardship as opportunities to be happy. Because of this, James made sure that he not only told his Jewish Christian brothers and sisters what to do but why they should do it for trials would produce the blessing of perseverance through the testing of their faith.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
As we turn to verse 4 as well as verse 12, we find how blessings beget other blessings when we are obedient to the Lord’s Word and His leading. Look at the foundational text for this message here:
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
As we discussed yesterday, perseverance isn’t easy. Often, our troubles prolong more than just for a brief moment, sometimes extending out for years.
Think about someone who experiences a major health problem like cancer or another disease impacting body organs. These health problems may end up lasting a lifetime, even possibly leading to death for a person. Perseverance through trial becomes a way of life.
In our humanity, we don’t have the strength to prolong through long term suffering and so in order to make it through, we have to lean on the Lord who can keep propping us up when we feel like just giving up.
And so the secret to perseverance is to maintain our trust in the Lord who loves us and has the ability to help us through whatever life might bring our way. He and only He can bring us the endurance and resolve needed to deal with our adversity.
This surrendering of our own strength to receive the Lord’s in order to persevere brings us special gifts as we see in today’s two verses.
First, we mature spiritually as believers. Rather than lean on our own understanding and power, we put Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, into action. We “trust in the Lord” with all our heart and “submit to Him”, not just in some ways but in all our ways. When we do this, and only when we do this, He will make our paths straight so that we live the righteousness that is pleasing to Him.
When we mature to this level as Christians, placing our full dependence on the Lord, in good and bad times, then we will find ourselves in a place where we aren’t lacking anything. This is because we find that our contentment in life isn’t found in anything the world offers but rather in our God and His Son who provide us with everything we could ever hope for and everything we could ever need, in this life and in the one yet to come.
Speaking of that, we look at verse 12 and find the final gift associated with persevering through the trials of life. For there will be a day when this earthly existence will come to an end. We will draw our final breath, our heart will finish beating, and our bodies will return to the dust from which they came but our souls will continue on with one of two destinations.
Those souls who aren’t in Christ will be condemned to Hell and the eternal suffering and torment within.
But those who chose to accept and not reject Jesus will have a completely opposite outcome. For they, having stood the test of time and its trials through perseverance, will receive the blessed “crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him”. This amazing gift of everlasting residence in the very Kingdom of Heaven will be a totally new life, one free from anything that would have constituted a trial before.
No more sin. No more sickness or suffering or pain. No more heartache or broken relationships. No more grieving of loss.
The Lord will wipe every tear from a Christian’s eye as they come to abide with Him in glory.
Yes, this worldly life is hard with many difficulties but they aren’t without purpose or design. For our Lord is not only working through these hardships to test and purify our faith. He is also getting us prepared for the best life we will ever live, the ultimate blessing of eternal life promised to all who chose to believe in Jesus as Savior.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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