James 1:12 - “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.”
James begins the first part of chapter 1 instructing, that trials produce steadfastness. The act of persevering through a trial develops within us the ability to be steadfast.
James states, that the man who remains steadfast under trial and withstands its test would be given the crown of life. Our life on this earth is one long trial. If you are a christian you are a stranger walking in an alien world of sin that you have been separated from. Christ understanding our separation and its dangers prayed for the protection of his believers before he was crucified. John 17: 14 -19 “[14] I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. [15] I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. [16] They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. [17] Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. [18] As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. [19] And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”Christ surgically separates us and spiritual consecrated us out of the darkness of the world. We as his followers must battle to remain separated from it while we live our mortal lives.
God sees the world with True, holy and unblemished eyes, he see’s only the righteous and the sin, he sees only in black and white. There is no variation of righteousness of sin. Sin being the black boundary that God does not allow in his presence and white being righteousness and complete perfection which is God. So to understand this better I am going to go into a little more details of what is black and what is white.
Humans were separated from God in the Garden of Eden, by the sin of Adam. Many would argue it was Eve who first sinned, and I would argue that you are wrong. She was first two bite the fruit, but Adam the head of their family, the protector and the Earthly representation of God, either was not by her side supporting her or chose to let her take the fruit and eat of it. Either way it does not matter as the leader he holds the responsibility and because of his lack of leadership sin enters the world.
In the military you may be a high ranking general with thousands of men and woman in your charge but if the lowliest and most removed private within your command makes a huge mistake the blame falls on the generals. This is because the private is the generals responsibility and Congress trust that general with the governments property I.E. the Private. The general’s leadership had failed the private in some regard, either to teach him not to do the mishap, provide the necessary safety nets to prevent the mistake from being made, or neglected to train the junior leadership in cultivating the environment to prevent such mistakes.
I digress, the point is through, Adam all of mankind fell into sin, the crown of life was cast away from all humankind. Human kind no longer could experience life, but now we're banished into this sinful world and ultimately their mortal death, and their spiritual death. Death the true death being the utter and complete separation of man from God. Genesis 2:17 - “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Adam and Eve obviously did not die physically from eating the fruit at least not immediately, but it is not physical death that God fears for us. After all he is the King of Kings, the God of all creations, Death cannot hold any ties upon him. This leads us to believe that the death God speaks of is the worse kind of death. The death of being eternally separated from God.
Now Christ, overcame death, not just the physical death that most people think of with the resurrection, but the true death. Christ defeated the utter separation from God, allowing us a way to be removed from our rebellion and in peace with God once more. Christ literally went and fought back the spiritual bars of sin and freed himself and all believers from spiritual death. Sin, temptation, separation from the one true God, were all defeated by Christ, and that is what we must hold onto and keep fighting for while we are sojourners upon this earth.
For that freedom, that beautiful and joyous reuniting with our creator and father that we will one day experience. That is the Crown of Life, the treasure we wait for in heaven, is the literal relationship we will have with the Supreme Ruler over all creation. The happiness we will seek is living the life God designed us to live to our fullest ability worshipping him with every action we take, for all of eternity.
Now to remain steadfastness is looking to this hope in the power of Christ trusting that he will protect you until the time comes for you to be rescued to your home with God. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16: 13-14 “[13] Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. [14] Let all that you do be done in love.” So to be steadfast we must stand firm in our faith, which is then made strong by making it through our trials.
God gives you what you need, your energy, your strength, the very Faith, hope and knowledge of Christ has been all given to you. When you find yourself in trials, you must constantly trust in God, knowing he has already defeated sin, he has already given you the tools you need, you are his, and he will not lose what is his. Only one person can send you back on a path of rebellion and sin and that is yourself.
You might not be a christian and as a result not understand the context of this weekly devotion. What I would say to you is, that if you find yourself struggling with things in life that you are not strong enough to overcome, there is a way out. If you constantly find your life, relationships, thoughts, and actions over come with stress or struggle, know their is a God who can free you from them. If you are interested in learning more about what a Christian is, or are ready to become a Christian today, please contact us and one of our ministry representatives will be in contact. If you would like me personally to get in contact with you, just leave a comment asking for me, and I will be more than happy to contact you as soon as possible.
Life is hard, lets not go through it alone. One of the missions of Triple Hares is to build a community. This community will support you and help you through your moments of struggle. We will not judge, ridicule or leave out to dry. We are here to help, and I assure you we have been where you are, and are feeling what you feel. Reach out and let us help.
Kyle Statham
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