January 2, 2013

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Personal Challenge...

Even though Christ has come to redeem His creation from death we still live in a fallen world. It is in this fallenness that temptations arise. Part of my growth in Christ is to develop the strength to endure the temptations that well up from the flesh or from the evil one. It may be difficult, but the end results will make all the difficulty worthwhile.

I love how Yogi Berra enlightens us on the difference between theory and practice in this quote: "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is." This could easily be applied to how we deal with temptations in our lives.