SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 08-23-03
My
Worship Time Focus: Crowns because of
love
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: James 1:12
1. Message of the verse: “12 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.”
(NASB) “God blesses the people
who patiently endure testing. Afterward
they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love
him.” (NLT)
Verse 12 is
the end of this first section in James as outlined in Dr. Wiersbe’s book. This section started in verse 2 with joy and
ends in verse 12 with joy, for blessed does mean to be happy or joyful. This verse tells us that the believers who
perseveres und trial is blessed and will be rewarded with the crown of
life. This is not a crown that will be
given to him on earth, but will be given to him when the Lord returns. This crown is given to the believer because
of love as seen at the end of the verse.
John tells us that we love God because He first loves us, and proved
that love for us by sending His Son to die in our place for sins we should have
died for. Therefore when we get to
heaven and are given crowns for things done well while we were on the earth we
will cast our crowns at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are also rewarded by growth in Christian
character, and this will bring glory to the Lord. In Hebrews 12 the writer speaks of Christ
enduring the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. First there was the cross and then the crown,
and this is the same for the believers who stand up under trials, first the
suffering and then the glory. If God did
not send trials to us we would not grow and mature as believers.
At the end
of this verse James says the crown of life is given to those who love the
Lord. He did not say for those who trust
Him or obey Him but love Him. There are four imperatives in this section of
James and love is the spiritual force behind each of them. Dr. Wiersbe says that if we love God we will
have no problem counting, (a joyful attitude), knowing, (an understanding
mind), letting, (a surrendered will), or asking, (a believing heart).
2. Spiritual meaning for my life today: I think that what I can learn from this verse
and from this section is that the love of God should be the motivation for
every thing that I do. I believe that if
you look at the life of Jesus Christ while He was on earth that you can surely
see that He did everything because of love, love for His Father by obeying Him,
and love for us by dying for us. Johns
Gospel and letters are full of love and so love is the greatest motivation for
living the Christian life.
The Word of God was full of challenges, and even the
greatest challenge to love God.
My
Steps of Faith Today: To love the Lord
with all my heart and all my soul and my neighbor as myself.
Memory verse for the week:
Psalm 121:8
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in From
this time forth and forever.
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