Sunday, November 4, 2012

James 1:12

"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

Definition: Blessed - made holy (adjective)

Definition: endures - suffer patiently or tolerate

Definition: temptation - desire to do something, particularly if wrong or unwise, or a thing/course of action that attracts someone

Definition: approved - officially agree or accept or believe something is good or acceptable

Definition: receive - be given, presented or paid

This is an interesting verse.  At first glance, it seems that the condition needed for eternal life is to resist temptation.  However the second half says that if you love Him, then He made a promise to you to give you eternal life.  A promise doesn't develop conditions.  It is safe to say though, that when you love Him, you will want to take care of yourself and only do that which glorifies the Lord.  After all, you love Him, so He is your Love.

From what I get out of this, the person who gets through (positively, not negatively) bad times will be made holy.  It is when we are accepted that we get the crown of life.

If we get through the bad times with our focus on our loving Lord, then we can't go wrong.  He has already accepted us, we just have to accept Him and His gift.  God wants everyone to live with Him.  That is part of His Loving nature.

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