“Crown of Life”

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. –James 1:12

The rich man withers when tried, but the man who perseveres gains the crown of life. The crown is for the humble, but it cannot be had by the weak. Therefore, weakness must be put off. The problem is, we are not able to deduce our own weaknesses. Rather, they must be shown to us by God. This is not a pleasant process. Trials take us to places we would not go on our own. But, we need to go to these places, for only in them do we see our brokenness.

This is the reason we do not like trials – they show us how ugly we are. We do not want know our flaws, let alone deal with them. We spend our lives seeking to hide our deformities from others and ourselves. Rather than preserving in trials, we seek to cut them short. Sometimes this involves leaving difficult circumstances, other times it involves blaming them on others. Regardless, when we fail to persevere, we miss our opportunity to be made better.

When we run away from, or cover over our flaws, we are in fact turning from God. God brings difficulty upon us to bring us closer to him. God sees us better than we see ourselves – he knows our ugliness. He wants us rid of it more than we do. That is the irony of failing to persevere – when we do so, we lose our only chance at being made glorious.

On our own, trials will crush us, just as they do the rich man. But, when we turn to God, we receive the strength to endure. Like a file, trials grind against our flaws. This hurts, but it ultimately removes them, beautifying us with our promised crown.