James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life… 1. Afflictions do not make the people of God miserable. There is a great deal of difference between a Christian and a man of the world: his best estate is vanity (Psalm 39:5); and a Christian's worst is happiness. (1) Afflictions cannot diminish his happiness. In the greatest want of earthly things there is happiness, and comfort enough in a covenant-interest. (2) Sometimes afflictions increase their happiness, as they occasion more comfort and further experience of grace: God seldom afflicted in vain. They that count God their chiefest good know no other evil but the darkening of His countenance; in all other cases, "Blessed is he that endureth": they lose nothing by affliction but their sins. 2. Of all afflictions those are sweetest which we endure for Christ's sake. (1) That it be for Christ. (2) That your heart be right for Christ. The form of religion may many times draw a persecution upon itself, as well as the power; the world hateth both, though the form less. Oh! how sad is it that a man cometh to suffer, and he hath nothing to bear him out but an empty form. 3. Before crowning there must he a trial. The trial doth not merit heaven, but always goeth before it. Before we are brought to glory, God will first wean us from sin and the world, which the apostle calleth a being "made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light" (Colossians 1:12). He that passeth his life without trial knoweth not himself, nor hath opportunity to discover his uprightness. 4. It is good to oppose the glory of our hopes against the abasure of our sufferings. Here are trials, but we look for a crown of glory. 5. No enduring is acceptable to God but such as doth arise from love. The victory is less over outward inconveniences than inward lusts; for these, being more rooted in our nature, are more hardly overcome. (T. Manton.) Parallel Verses KJV: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. |
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