The Prize of Faithfulness

UV 3219/10000 The Prize of Faithfulness
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.

James 1 v 12

While life frowns on us with trials and temptations, the Lord God waits with a crown of His glory to reward us when we emerge victorious from these trying times in our lives, our faith in tact. Such a person is blessed- implying he or she is happy, spiritually prosperous and favoured by God. The period of trial is tough but when the going gets tough, the faithful keep going. We endure with patient expectation till the end of the trouble or the end of our lives, whichever is earlier.

Trials and troubles are like the sculptor’s awl that etches the shape of our character. Unlike the lifeless sculpture, since we are flesh and blood, each stroke of the awl on us causes tremendous pain and suffering. It is intended to deal with our flaws and to make us blameless in the sight of the Lord. It is like the red heat of furnace fire that purifies silver and gold. Instead of resenting these, we should be thankful and glad that we are chosen by the Lord for His chastening. He promises not to test us beyond our strength to endure.
Trials and temptations are also needed to prove and strengthen our love for the Lord, to wean us away from the love and ways of the world. We need to love the Lord with all our strength, with all our hearts, minds and souls. Hence, our thoughts, emotions, intentions, desires need to be focused on the Lord. Such focus does not come with ease and comfort but by the trial of fire which burns what is not of God and burnishes what remains. Jesus who committed no sin, who did not need to be refined in any aspect whether of His speech, or of His attitudes, or of His actions and reactions, His intentions and desires, faced more intense trials and temptations than anyone else who walked in flesh and blood on this Earth. How much more should we ordinary mortals be tested, tried, refined? But Jesus promises us to be with us in the intense heat of the trial, at the point of temptation as He was the “fourth One who looked like a Son of God “ with Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego in the seven times over heated furnace ordered by Nebuchadnezzar, the king. When we emerge victorious from such trials and temptations, the Lord declares us blessed or ready to receive the crown of life, to be happy, spiritually prosperous and favoured by the Most High God. The crown of life is the victor’s prize- immortal, eternal, incorruptible, unfading. We need to run in such a way as to win it, fight the circumstances of life in such a way as to be declared winner.