Crown of Life

 *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. *13*Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. *14*But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. *15*Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 

*16*Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. *17*Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 1:12–17.

God promises you the crown of life if you love HIm. Loving God means having a relationship with Him that includes spending time getting to know Him, listening, expressing joy and gratitude, being obedient, and trusting Him when you are tested. These things strengthen the depth of relationship you have with God and therefore lead to growing in the steadfastness that James is keen for us all to know. As you can probably tell, this is not an easy task. In fact it takes extensive training, pain and discomfort to become steadfast in your relationship with God and to gain the crown of life. Like anything worth having it will take time, effort and require sacrifice just like trying to gain any other crown or trophy. People compete, practice and dedicate their time, even their lifestyle to gain trophies and crowns. The highlight of their lives, the momentous achievement of a lifetime, worth the discomfort and sacrifice to get the glory of the competitive crown. Yet how long does an Earthly crown or trophy last? The attainment of the prize requires years of discipline, dedication and self-denial, but the glory lasts only moments in comparison. 

Living to attain the crown of life also requires sacrifice, effort, and discomfort. It takes a lifetime of dedication, discipline and self-denial to truly follow God and to love Him. It takes a lot of practice, mistakes, trials and triumphs to gain steadfastness and the crown of eternal life. This crown is not just a transient trophy or a briefly held prize - It is an eternal reality. A symbol of a faithful life lived, a promotion to authority and a well-earned, everlasting prize, and you can have it! The question is, are you willing to live your life to attain it? 

It takes training to live a steadfast, God-honouring life. That is the only way you will get this crown of life, are you training yourself to get it? 

Everyone has something that they are training for in life, whether you realise it or not. You have something(s) that you plough your time, effort and money into, things that you are dedicated to and upon which you base your lifestyle and decisions on. These things can be healthy goals, or things that aren’t. Either way, you can become fixated and overwhelmed with what living to achieve these things really means. Sometimes these goals can end up becoming pits as the desire or achievement is never satisfied or fulfilled. It can become an endless, tiresome cycle of desiring bigger and better and can lead to anxiety, worry, frustration, feelings of ‘not good enough’. It can seem like an endless tireless treadmill. So, I wonder, today, what would you say you are living for? Are you competing for; a crown? Promotion? More money? Better life? Fitter body? The crown of life?

God has promised that you can have this crown of life. It is available and waiting for you. Are you going to follow Jesus wholeheartedly through thick and thin through times of disappointment and success to get it? If you do, you can be assured that at the end of this earthly existence, you will be crowned with life. Not a temporal crown that will be passed onto the next person when the competition is won by someone else, but this crown, the crown of life, is personally promised by God as part of your eternal inheritance. It has been set aside for you to wear. You have an eternal future waiting for you where you can be crowned a champion by God - Are you willing to live your life in such a way that you can earn that future?

There is valid warning following the promise of this crown in the verses above -  temptation is lurking. In the quest for relationship with God, a good holy, healthy life and the goal of the crown of life, there will plenty to try to take you off track. There will be outside influences, but also the ever-present temptation from within. James wants you to understand that growing in steadfastness, loving God and gaining the crown of life means walking away from sin. So, you need to know where sin comes from. It is not from God, not from the devil, but comes from your own desires. Some of the desires inside of you are not in  line with God, and they can easily lead to temptation and sin, 'and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.' Not a pleasant thought, but a reality. James doesn't want you to think that you can have both; the crown of life and sin. Living an earthly existence to gain eternal life looks like denying your own desires and living for God. It sounds flippant, but it is true. You need to realise and get to grips with the fact that all of your sin is dead. Jesus embodied it all and he was tortured and killed - 100% dead, so that you could know that all of your sin is 100% dead. If you believe in Jesus and live a life honouring God, the reality is you are free from all sin. Yet you are not free from temptation. That still stems from your desires, yet you now have the choice whether you step into sin or not. This is what it means to run the race of life living to attain the crown of life. There are obstacles, things that try to trip you up. They are not from God. If you want to live for God, love Him and get your eternal inheritance, then you need to be aware of yourself, your own desires and temptations so that you learn how to combat the desire to sin. It is true, it is hard work, it requires self-denial, a change in lifestyle perhaps and a life's work of dedication. Are you up for it? 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change' God has this perfect gift of the crown of life awaiting you, are you living to attian it?

'Count it all joy'

 2*Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, *3*for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. *4*And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 

James 1:2–4.

I find these verses some of the most challenging in Scripture. Whenever I read v2 I wonder how am I ever meant to achieve that - how do you consider trials a joy? I recall what the early christians went through and how they were praising in prison, flogged, beaten, stoned and crucified and I wonder how did they encounter these things with such calm and joy? 

Even in the days we are living in now christians are horrendously persecuted. Some people are tortured and tormented, yet their trust and understanding of God remains, and even strengthens. They go through the pain and discomfort because they know the truth and they, ‘count it all joy’ to be persecuted for Christ. I have not experienced anything like the terrible and terrifying ordeals that some suffer, yet even in my sufferings and trials I struggle to count it a joy. As I write this, I acknowledge that I am currently experiencing, 'trials of various kinds'. I have felt; heartbroken, confused, defeated, loss and numb. I have not been joyful about these things at all and I do not think that James is saying that we need to be full of joy in the trials, but learn to, ‘count’ them a joy. It would be inhuman really to rejoice when pain and suffering come, but that does not mean that we cannot consider that these hardships are actually doing us good in the long-term. I think that this is what James was getting at. When you encounter trials, it is tough and they stretch and challenge us in ways we never expected or wanted. Yet when you and I endure these things continuing to trust in God, although you know that your faith is being tested and that is difficult, you also can know that this is an opportunity to grow steadfast, perfect and content. Who doesn't want that? - this is good news!

There is bad news however, and that is that trials will involve pain, suffering and waiting! In order to achieve these attributes it means that you will have to endure. You have to persevere and be determined to  keep hold of your faith in God and doing what you know is right even if no-one else is. It is hard, and none of us like it, but growing up to become steadfast and complete is the goal. It takes patience, endurance, mistakes and hardship to get there. I think we struggle with this so much today as it is so easy to see that society has grown away from patience and endurance. These are not attributes that many of us have or seek, i mean, who likes waiting for things? The world promotes instant gratification and quick fixes rather than permanent solutions built over time. We have seen an increase of self-serve checkouts, pre-orders, 24hour delivery, all because we want things done and we want it now! We have become a throw away culture; if it doesn’t work, throw it out, get a new one. If it hurts, get some pain relief, if it’s hard, don’t do it. If you have to wait, order it online. If this is our standard - How are you to grow in patience and understanding? 

Nowhere does the Bible teach that instant gratification or relief is a good thing. We actually see the complete opposite. Scripture, teaches instead that; hardship, endurance, suffering, pain and trials are a good thing! Probably not if you look at the here and now whilst in the midst of a trial, but if you take time to consider what it is doing in you long-term, you can see that these tough times do you good. They cause you to evaluate life and yourself in a new way, they can help you grow in empathy, understanding, appreciation and can bring about faith and steadfastness, completeness and contentment. This is what these verses show us as well as the rest of the Bible. James also writes 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.’ 

What a great promise! 

Yes, trials are tough and they last. The effects of the trials on our emotions, mental and physical health can take its toll, but what do they do for your spiritual health? Even if you are suffering, are you continuing to learn about God, still talking to Him and depending on Him? If so, then you will grow in faith and steadfastness, but it takes time. Faith is only realised when it’s tested. Steadfastness can only grow if you’ve endured through some trials. So, to achieve these things you have to accept the sufferings. You have to allow yourself to patiently go through it knowing that you can grow in character and faith eventually gaining the crown of life as your reward!