Blessed is Anyone Who…
James 1:12 Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. (NRSV)
Here’s the thing about temptation. It’s so alluring. It’s so desirable. And it has to be, because if we yield to it, it’s so destructive. And it assails us all too often, when we least expect it.
We’ve both been there. Everything’s going along so well, but all of a sudden one of those small temptations appears … so beguiling, and then, in an instant, it hits you like a sledgehammer. John Wesley put it like this:
“Just as the most of dangerous winds may enter through the smallest of openings, so the devil never enters more dangerously than by little unobserved incidents, which seem to be nothing, yet insensibly open the heart to great temptations.”
Ain’t that the truth! That’s why unobserved compromises we make are so incredibly dangerous.
But temptation tends to come and go quickly. One minute it’s not there at all. The next minute it assails you – and before you know it, it’s gone again. The critical thing is the choice we make in that minute of onslaught.
James 1:12 Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. (NRSV)
During the onslaught we can choose either to yield or to endure. Temptations test the genuineness of our faith. They test the steadfastness of our character in Christ. And each time you endure, each time you pass the test, you become more and more like Him.
Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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Matt
Berni and Team – Thank you for consistently and unabashedly sharing Biblical Truth at ChristianityWorks. You have ...
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Berni and Team –
Thank you for consistently and unabashedly sharing Biblical Truth at ChristianityWorks.
You have encouraged and challenged me in my walk with Christ.
May God get the glory as He continues to use ChristianityWorks in partnership with the Holy Spirit to guide and shape His people into the likeness of Jesus.