Blessed

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Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
- James 1:12

As we wrap up our week in James 1:2-12 we want to pause to note this significant perspective James shares about trials.

Throughout the book of James, perceptive readers will catch echoes of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7). Few of these echoes are more significant than this one in today’s passage.

Jesus starts the Sermon on the Mount with a series of statements that run in this rhythm: “Blessed are the _____, for they ______.” Commonly called “the beatitudes,” these statements launch into Jesus’ challenging teaching about the upside-down kingdom of God. Throughout his teaching, Jesus flips his hearers’ expectations on their heads. And nowhere is this clearer than in the beatitudes.

James, like Jesus, flips our expectations on their heads. We like to think of the blessed life as a life of comfort and ease, a life of prosperity and peace. But James and Jesus teach that those who endure persecution and trial and persevere are truly blessed. They teach that the future reward outweighs this present “light and momentary affliction” (to quote the apostle Paul).

Blessed are those who experience trials because they get a specific kind of benefit that can only come on the other side of a trial.

We believe this is true because we have seen it come true in Jesus. He persevered under trial, even the trial of the cross, and emerged to new life on the other side. All of the blessings we experience in Christ we experience because he stood the test and persevered to the other side.

Because he submitted himself to the experience of trials and testing, we can follow him into the trials that life will throw our way. Because he rose from the dead, we can believe that there will be new and richer life for us on the other side or our trials. We can consider ourselves blessed even if we suffer.

As a physical reminder to yourself, take a pen and write the letter “B” on your hand, arm or foot today. Every time you see it, remember that you are blessed.

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Jesus is both man and God. He could certainly persevere under trial and test. That was his purpose of being and of a good model for us. But we are all human beings. Are all the sufferings people experience in the world just trial and test? Look at the Syrian refugees. Thousands die. To what end?

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