10But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. ¹¹For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

Believe it or not, James is telling the rich man to take pride in his humiliation.

The rich man is to rejoice in that he will fade away in his ways.

In other words the rich man is to rejoice, for some day he will leave his earthly riches behind and will go to Christ who is the holder of the true riches.

The rich man being made low, the rich man’s humiliation is his demise.

Paul had this very thought when he said in Phil. 1:21,

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Christ in Luke 16:11 preached about the true riches which are heavenly riches.

And what other than our demise opens the door to those true riches where moth or rust or mildew, or inflation, deficits, or bankruptcy does not happen and where thieves do not break through and steal.

The true riches are not earthly riches but are eternal riches, heavenly riches.

So from God’s perspective it should not just be the poor who look forward to heaven, but the rich also, because heaven is where true riches await us at our arrival.

Peter captured this idea so well in:

I Peter 1:3-9,  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  ⁶Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: ⁷That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: ⁸Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: ⁹Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

God sees our poverty or he sees our riches.

But from His perspective there is no difference, for both earthly poverty and earthly riches are but for a short season and neither from the side of eternity amount to much.

Faith focuses our eyes on that which is afar off, not that which is near for that which is near is temporal.

Poverty and riches of this earth are near and are therefore temporal.

This is what the Old Testament saints had to learn as well:

Read Hebrews 11:13-16,  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. ¹⁵And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. ¹⁶But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

And so James counsels the rich man to realize that his earthly wealth is petty and paltry, in comparison with the heavenly wealth that awaits him after this life.

Since it is his earthly demise that takes him to heaven, the rich man is to exult in his death, to exult in his humiliation, to exult in leaving behind all his earthly wealth.

See how Bible truth turns this worlds ideas upside down!

And not only to exult in his earthly demise but to exult in his trials for again in verse 12 he is reminded to focus his eyes on that which is afar off.

For he says in James 1:12,  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 has told us in verse 4 to count in all joy when you fall into all sorts of trials.

Here in verse 12 he says you are a blessed man when you endure those trials.

He does not say that we will feel blessed in the midst of those trials but he states it as a fact that we are indeed blessed when we endure those trials for he reminds his readers that there is an end to the time for trials.

And that end will be a far more glorious end than any of us can imagine in this present life.

But endurance in those trials is not something that we do by sheer will power.

It is not gritting your teeth and bearing it.

It is enduring trials by the power of God.

To endure is to continue to turn to God as our only source of life regardless of the trial.

Not to be double minded but to be single minded saying my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

It is to trust in Him that He will be present and He will be our peace in the midst of whatever we are facing.

And it is to know without doubting that He is working His transforming and redeeming will through our suffering.

It is to wait on Him to give us wisdom and light knowing that we have nothing whatsoever to offer Him.

It is to obey Psalm 46:10 which commands us to: Be still, and know that I am God, instead of running to and fro to find relief outside of God.

Being still means that there is to be no activity on your part, no figuring out on your part as to how to get out of this trial.

But in this stillness and in this waiting we are to know there is an endpoint.

We endure not for the sake of endurance but for what follows the endurance.

We are to know in our trials that God will bring good out of this, and we count on Him to do it.

He promises the crown of life to those who endure, which pictures what verse four tells us we are to be: perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Not being still, not waiting on God, simply keeps the sculpturing hand of God from doing its work and prevents that perfection, that entirety, that wanting nothing.

The crown of life will never go to the one who runs from God’s sculpturing hand.

The crown of life is one of five crowns that God has mentioned in His word that will be given to saints according to their deeds.

The incorruptible crown: 1 Corinthians 9:24,25.

The crown of rejoicing: 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20.

The crown of glory: 1 Peter 5:1~4.

The crown of righteousness: 2 Timothy 4:8.

This crown of life that is promised in James is also mentioned in Revelation 2:10 and again is connected to trials and suffering:

It is interesting that this crown named the crown of life is also associated with martyrdom.

But martyrdom is not the sole requirement for this crown.

It’s distinctive is related to endurance in testing.

James continues his instruction in James 1:13-18,  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: ¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. ¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. ¹⁶Do not err, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. ¹⁸Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Now the use of the word temptation up to this passage was in relation to adversity, trials or testings.

It was not using the word temptation as that which entices to sin which is how the word temptation is used in verses 13-18.

But there is a connection between adversity and the kind of temptation that leads to sin.

It is easy to yield to this temptation during times of adversity if we choose to be double minded and choose to go down paths not chosen by God.

This temptation grabs the soul who refuses to be still and wait on God.

We are easily led to ungodly responses during times of stress and many times we justify ourselves by thinking that anyone would respond in the same sinful way if they were suffering in the same manner as we.

We therefore conclude that temptations to sin are part of the testing of God.

That second mind of the double minded reasons thusly:

God is sovereign; He is in control of everything.

God is the One who brings adversity into the lives of His people.

God has brought adversity into my life.

In such times of adversity, I am tempted to act in an ungodly manner.

If I yield to this temptation, I sin.

Therefore, God is the source of my temptation.

If I fail, it must be God’s fault, because He led me into temptation.

But God tells us this is faulty logic for it goes against the very nature of God.

James in our passage says unequivocally,  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: ¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Temptation to sin during times of testing is not, I repeat not from God.

Any conclusion that God is the tempter comes from the double minded person who wavers between humbly submitting to God and disobeying God based on the idea that he can do things himself which is simply pride.

It is that proud disobedience which is the basis for blaming God for our sin and results in naming Him as the source of our temptation.

James speaks in very absolute terms in verses 13-18.

He says that one should never blame God for the temptation he faces.

He also says that God cannot ever be tempted by evil, and that He never tempts anyone with evil.

God tests us, but He never tempts us.

Temptation, James tells us, comes from deep within us, and not from God.

Jesus made this clear as well in Mark 7:18-23,  And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; ¹⁹Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats? ²⁰And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. ²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, ²²Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: ²³All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

James 1:14- 18,  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. ¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. ¹⁶Do not err, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. ¹⁸Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.