Every good thing. Those words are bitter sweet in the midst of trials. When we’re in the thick of difficult situations of any kind, it almost feels like a personal attack to be reminded that God desires to use that difficult situation to bring about every good thing. It’s often difficult to understand how God can use such challenging and sometimes detrimental life situations to do anything good. I know I struggled with that knowledge after my brother died. I knew in my head that God was going to use that incredible grief and anger to do something good, but my heart just couldn’t understand it, and I couldn’t make my heart feel what my head knew.
Here’s the thing about the importance of what James says in this first chapter of his letter about trials: if we don’t learn about how to appropriately approach trials in a God-honoring way during good times, then when those trials come, we will certainly flounder and struggle. We need the head knowledge of how God wants to work in trials to help us whether the storm when our hearts are overwhelmed.
Let’s look again at James 1, this time we’ll be in verses 12-17. “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. No one is to say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
Before we get into the good things James talks about and the glory waiting those who persevere through trials, I want to first talk about James’ conversation about temptation. In James 1:3-4, James talked about the step-by-step progression God desires for us to take when we face trials of any kind. If you’ll recall, the progression goes like this: Trial—>Testing—>Perseverance—>Maturity. If we let God work in our hearts during trials, we look for the testing, we identify what character God is trying to strengthen in us, and what vices He is trying to prune out, the result of that is a greater Christian maturity.
But here in verses 14-15, James presents a different step-by-step progression that happens when we don’t turn to God and rely on His wisdom during trials. It goes like this: Trial—>TEMPTATION—>SIN—>DEATH.
We know what the trials are. James says a trial is any struggle that you go through that causes suffering or pain. Any struggle! While there is a tremendous capacity for God to do good things through those trials, there are also temptations that come with those trials, and sometimes temptation doesn’t look the way we think it might.
What about the temptation to retaliate against people who are mistreating you? What about the temptation to compromise moral standards? What about the temptation to interrupt your life of obedience? What about the temptation to grumble and complain and have a negative attitude about the trial? What about the temptation to walk away from fellowship with the Lord? What about the temptation to give up on a difficult ministry? What about the temptation to withdraw from active participation in worship and fellowship with others? What about the temptation to follow the culture? What about the temptation to let bitterness and anger take root? What about the temptation to not tithe or give sacrificially? All of these can be very real temptations that might present themselves in the midst of a trial.
Just like there is testing that will produce Godly character and the fruit of the Spirit in trials, there are also always temptations to sin. James wants us to understand, and so he makes it very clear, that God is not the one who causes temptations to happen. James says, “No one is to say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” God doesn’t lead you to temptation. He can’t! He is holy! He is set apart from sin and anything that might lead to sin! He calls us to be holy as He is holy! So, He is not the source of temptations that might come during trials.
James says this about where temptation comes from, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.” Temptations in the midst of trials come from our own evil desires. The temptation to harbor hatred, or take revenge, or to be covetous or jealous, or to simply give up, etc., this comes from our own sinful motives. James calls us to take responsibility for our own lives and to deal with those sinful motives, rather than blaming them on a holy God. The temptation to sin stands in contrast to the testing God desires to use to grow our maturity. The two are opposites, one comes from God, but temptation, that’s all on us.
The danger in trials doesn’t come from what is happening to us, but rather by what wrong we may do by responding to the trial in our own human weakness, rather than relying on God’s wisdom. When we respond in our own weakness, we are bound to give into temptation and that becomes sin, which then leads to death, spiritual death.
The words James uses when he talks about temptation, that we are carried away and enticed or lured, are interesting. I know a few of you are hunters, my family likes to fish. Carried away, and lured, which is the word some translations use, are terms we use to talk about predators. Predators carry away their prey after they have attacked. Lures are used to entice fish to get snagged on a hook. James says that our own evil desires try to carry us away and lure us, entice us, to give in to temptation.
Temptation looks good, right, that’s why it’s called temptation. It’s what the selfish part of our human nature wants. And I’ll be honest with you, when difficulties come up, sometimes it would be easier to just walk away, to just give up, just give in. It doesn’t go against the culture, and it seems like it will save us a lot of heartache and pain. But who is really in danger when temptation comes? Us. The ones who might give in to temptation. If our evil desires carry us away and lure us to sin, we are the ones who become the prey, and we will get hurt. So though temptation may look good, may seem like the easy way out, it’s really not. That’s why James tells us not to be deceived.
James wants us to make tough moral choices, and persevere through trials. James expects that Christians will detest sin in all forms and expects that we will not continue to give ourselves to sin as believers. Why? “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
In this life, we have the reward of Christian maturity. We have the reward of being able to fully love God and love others the way He loves them, and having a character that is Christ-like. But there is a greater reward of the crown of life, given to those who persevere. Once we have been approved, meaning once we have gone through testing to create Christ-like character, we will receive the crown of life! This is the same crown of life John talks about in Revelation 2:10 in the letter the Spirit had John write to the church at Smyrna. It’s a victor’s crown, a winner’s crown, given to those who overcome.
James says that any trial we go through is worth going through to gain this crown of life. The pain that we might feel, the struggle, and the suffering are worth going through if it means that we are given this crown because the crown of life is worth more than avoiding the trial.
I want to read this from a commentary on the book of James, “When a spouse is unfaithful and abandons the marriage, is Christ still worth obeying? When your financial security is threatened or wrecked, is Christ still worth trusting? When your physical health is crippled, is Christ still worth adoring? When a family member is killed, is Christ still worth serving? When your actions are misunderstood or slandered, is Christ still worth devotion? Even if the Christian loses everything else, is Christ still worth honoring, and is the crown of life still worth the perseverance in faith? The answer is decisively, yes!”
James makes one final point, just in case we’re not fully persuaded yet to face the trials of life with all joy, just in case the assurance of Christian maturity and the crown of life aren’t quite enough (which of course, we know they are), James says this, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
Make no mistake, all good things, every perfect gift, even those that come through trials and challenges, are from God. He gives good gifts, not because we deserve them, not even because we persevered through hard things, He gives because He loves us. Luke 11:13 reminds us of this, “So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” If He is good enough to give us the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit, how can we doubt that He gives every good thing to those who love Him? How could we doubt that every perfect gift is from Him?
He is good, and He desires to do good things in our lives, things that bring us good and things that bring Him glory through us. He desires to turn the bad into something life changing to make us thrive. He desires to give us the crown of life. So…consider all joy when you face trials of all kinds.
1. Think of a recent or current trial you’ve gone through. Can you see where there was temptation to sin through that trial? Did the temptation come the way you might expect?
2. How did God help you resist temptation and persevere through that trial to more Christian maturity?
3. Read Luke 6:27-28. What does this say our response should be to others during trials when the temptation might be to retaliate or hold a grudge?