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James on Trials


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James on Trials

By: Jim Crews

 


The book of James was written to Jewish converts to Christ who were scattered by persecution.

Acts 8:1-4

This is one indication that James was one of the first New Testament books that was written. It is that persecution that sets up the theme for the first part of the book of James.

First, he writes about the joy in trials. Life is filled with various trials. Trials are not fun, but we don’t have to be depressed when life gets difficult.

James 1:2-4

The trials are not fun, but we can take joy in knowing the outcome.

Hebrews 12:11-13

Trials test our faith, but when we hang on, we learn endurance. Romans 5:3

Endurance then helps to perfect us.

Luke 8:15

 

Salvation is the ultimate goal.

Matthew 10:21-22


James then tells us that we should ask God for wisdom.

James 1:5-8

We know that wisdom comes from experience. God will generously give you plenty of experiences from which to grow as you learn to overcome problems. However you have to realize that you want the results.

Matthew 7:7-8

Time and effort have to be put in to gain experience.

Proverbs 8:34

If you ask for wisdom, but you aren’t willing to go through trials to get it, you are being double-minded.

Proverbs 2:3-6

It is that faith that God knows what He is doing which has to be held onto.

Mark 11:22-24
 



 

Wealth can be a trial.

James 1:9-11

Your economic situation can become a trial. If you are poor, you should show glory in the fact that you have salvation. There is that joy again in the outcome

But being rich is also a trial.

Proverbs 30:7-9

Being rich makes it more difficult to reach heaven.

Matthew 19:24-26

The love of money can lead to many temptations.

I Timothy 6:6-10

The rich need to remember that life is temporary and that they are going to die. It is way too easy to become comfortable with your success.

Deuteronomy 32:15
 



 

Don’t get me wrong, God wants us to succeed. However, we should remember that there is eternal life or eternal punishment waiting for us after we die.

James 1:12

Remember, God always keeps His promises.

Hebrews 6:9-19

We also should know that the source of trials, particularly the temptation to sin is not God.

James 1:13

God is not trying to make people sin, that is against His nature. God allows trials in order to improve us, not destroy us.

Trials come from our own desires.

James 1:14-15

We all have desires, given to us by God so that we can survive in this world. Those desires have good purposes, but they can be twisted to push us to sin. James then uses the illustration of a man’s life to show us this. Conception is when the temptation takes root and causes us to want to sin. We begin to excuse it in our mind and to think about commiting the sin.
 

 

Birth is when we actually act and commit the sin.

Growth is the fact one sin leads to others. We don’t often just stop with one sin. We repeat it.

Adulthood is when we get to the point that we think we have a right to sin, and don’t worry about any consequences.

Death is then the ultimate end.

How do we battle sin?

We can’t stop our desires. We need them to survive and they do serve a good purpose.

We also can’t stop temptation because we have no control over Satan.

However, we can practice contraception. We work to stop lust. Mark 7:21-23

But people often deceive themselves.

James 1:16
 


 

People tend to blame anyone or anything else, but themselves for their inability to stay out of sin. God gives us good gifts to help us succeed.

James 1:17-18

All the good in our life comes from God. The Bible is given to us a guide toward success so that we will be dedicated to God. Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, we should give up anger.

James 1:19-20

Getting mad at the trials are not going to get you to heaven. Anger doesn’t achieve righteousness.  Instead, we need to be quick to listen, slow to speak our minds, and slow to get angry. This is very hard for most of us.

Therefore, we should try our best to remove sin from our life. James 1:21

We must put God’s word, that gift He gave us, into practice. James 1:22-25

If you don’t, it won’t stay with you. Our faith isn’t a faith we just talk about. It is a faith that we do.

This means that we have to control our mouth.

James 1:26

We have to be concerned about those who are less fortunate than we are.

James 1:27

We should have concern for those who are enduring trials of their own. This is how we love our neighbor as ourselves.

James 2:8

Finally, we have to strive to keep ourselves unstained by the sinful world. We do this by remaining faithful to Christ. He knows we will sin. We continue to recognize and admit our sins to God in prayer, confessing them all to Him, repenting of all of them, and asking for His forgiveness.

Acts 8: 22

I John 1: 8 - 10

 

He will forgive us every single time, as long as we are striving to remain faithful to Him.

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