Tests, Trials, and Temptations

The Path to the Crown of Life (James 1:12-18)

When people go through a great trial, they inevitably ask the question, “Why, God? Why is this happening to me?” It’s such a universal response that even atheists will suddenly start believing in Him long enough to blame Him for whatever they’re going through. But here’s the reality: trials serve multiple purposes, and they come with different agendas.

James 1:12-15 says this: ^“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. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

Notice I highlighted three words in the above text: trial, test, and tempt. These three words indicate three perspectives on a singular event.

First, from your perspective, it’s a trial. Something painful is happening in your life, and you have the responsibility to respond to it faithfully. James 1:2 says we should “count it joy” when we face trials. See my post here for more about that.

Second, from God’s perspective, that same experience is a test. James 1:3-4 tells us the test has a goal: to make you steadfast. “The testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (v3).

Third, the devil also has an agenda in your suffering. Satan seizes the opportunity in our trials to tempt us to doubt God’s goodness and accuse him of hurting us on purpose. James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”

And yet, when we do fall into sin, we can’t blame Satan and say, “the devil made me do it.” Verse 14 says, “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”

The Example of Job

To illustrate, let’s consider the story of Job from the Old Testament. God allowed Satan to test Job, not because Job was evil, but because Job was faithful. In Job 1:9-11, Satan says to the Lord, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have You not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.”

So, God permitted Satan to bring a trial into Job’s life. Job lost his wealth, family, and health. Job’s trial was also a test. God used the test to strengthen Job’s faith and vindicate his innocence. But Satan had a different agenda. He used Job’s trial to tempt him to sin by cursing God and abandoning his faith. This temptation was embodied by his wife, who said, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die” (Job 2:9).

Thankfully, Job didn’t give in.

His experience was one event with all three dimensions: trial, test, and temptation. Interestingly, in the Greek language of the New Testament, the word for “trial” is the same as the word for “temptation,” depending on the context. James is telling us that one painful experience can have multiple agendas, and we need to be aware of them so we don’t get confused.

Therefore, we need to remember that there could be as many as three competing agendas in every trial. In this way, every trial can be both a test and a temptation. Your agenda is typically to make the pain stop as quickly as possible. Satan’s agenda is to use the trial to make you doubt God and fall into sin. And God’s agenda is to use the trial to help you grow, to make you stronger, and to draw you closer to Him.

Trials reveal who you really are. Trials have unusual power to change you in profound ways, whether for better or worse.

How Trials Can Tempt You to become Worse

James 1:14 tells us that sin arises from within our hearts in the form of disordered desires: “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”

In verse 15, James uses the imagery of childbirth to make his point: “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” A disordered desire “conceive” evil in our hearts, which grow until they are outwardly expressed as an act of “sin.” When sin goes unchecked, unconfessed and unrepented, it grows up. It matures. It becomes “fully grown.” This person’s disordered desires leads them on a path towards ever escalating sin.

Augustine described sin as the result of “disordered loves”—loving something good but loving it more than we should or in the wrong way. For example, it’s good to love my mom, but it’s wrong to love my mom more than I love God. That’s a disordered love. It’s good for a man to want to provide for his family, but it’s wrong to steal from his neighbor to do so.

This is often how Satan tempts us. He takes our good, natural desires and twists them. When we’re in a trial, one of the most obvious desires is to make the pain stop. That’s not wrong in itself. But it can become wrong if we do something sinful to escape the pain. For example, think about a struggling marriage. A husband might say, “I’m tired of this nagging woman.” A wife might say, “I can’t live with this grouchy man who doesn’t love me the way I need.” Men have a natural, God-given desire to be respected by their wives. Women have a natural, God-given desire to be loved by their husbands. Those are good desires. But when those desires aren’t being met, it can feel like a trial. And it’s sin to seek respect or love outside the marriage, whether through an affair, pornography, or some other means.

James uses vivid imagery to describe this process. He says we’re “lured” and “enticed” by our desires, like a fish drawn to a shiny lure in the water. The lure looks appealing. It’s calling your name, promising to fulfill you. Maybe it’s a young woman at work who looks up to you and makes you feel strong. Maybe it’s the man across the street who notices you and gives you a warm smile, unlike your husband.

That’s bait! You’re being lured. You’re being enticed. You come closer, you nibble, and you don’t notice the hook. Before you know it, you’re hooked, and the devil reels you in. At this point, you’re dead. Not because the devil forced you to do something, but you followed your own disordered desires into sin. That’s the path of death.

How Trials Can Test You and Make You Better

But there’s another way—the path of life. James shows us that trials don’t always have to lead to sin and death. They can lead to growth and blessing. Earlier in the chapter, James uses a different progression to describe the path of life.

That’s why James said we should “count” trials as joy. Trials can also change us for the better, if we respond to them properly: “the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Notice there’s another progression here. Testing your faith can make you more steadfast. And a steadfast faith grows and matures until it becomes “perfect.” Perfect doesn’t mean having no sin, it means reaching its intended purpose.

The same progression appears in verse 12: “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.”

It’s repeated again in 16-18, this time God promises that the steadfast Christian life is “pregnant” with a better version of yourself: “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

Here, James is talking about regeneration, being born again by the Spirit. God is the perfect Father who gives good gifts. He never changes. He has chosen to “bring us forth” through the word of truth, the gospel. We are born not of the flesh but of the Spirit, becoming part of God’s new creation, the “firstfruits” of His creatures. This is the path of life. It’s a life of blessing, fulfillment, and wholeness.

God uses trials to strengthen us and move us along this path. Trials are painful, but James says, “Hang in there, because there’s blessing on the other side.” When we remain steadfast under trial, trusting God and resisting temptation, we grow in maturity and faith. We become more like Jesus, perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Conclusion

Here’s the point: We’re not static creatures. Our obedience or disobedience to God is directional. Your life choices are taking you somewhere. Every choice in your life is making you more like Christ along the path of life or more twisted and distorted along the path of death.

You can’t nurse a little sin and remain unaffected. Your life is a spiritual battleground, and trials are high-stakes occasions. They’re opportunities to move forward in faith or temptations to go backward into sin.

For a true Christian, the Holy Spirit is moving you along the path of life over the course of your life. God uses trials to strengthen you, to help you obey Him, and to resist temptations. But the opposite is also true. For those who resist God, they’re on the path of death, and over time, their hearts harden in sin.

A steadfast Christian is solid and mature. There’s a joy about them that’s not hard to detect. They have a steady happiness, no matter the circumstances. They hold up under trial, and it doesn’t defeat them. That’s because their hearts are anchored in eternal things. They know trials are making them more like Jesus. Steadfast Christians can joyfully endure trials because they know there’s a crown waiting at the end.

And in the end, we’re promised a “crown of life.” The “crown of life” here isn’t a royal crown like a king would wear. It’s a wreath of leaves, like the kind given to victorious athletes in ancient times. It’s what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”

So, whatever trials you’re going through right now, keep going. Press on. Don’t give up. Hang in there. Because in this life, every trial you faithfully endure strengthens you and makes you more like Jesus. When you reach the end of your earthly life and cross the threshold into eternity, that’s the finish line. And in the next life, there’s a prize waiting for you—an imperishable wreath, the crown of life. You’ll be greeted warmly by God the Father and the heavenly host, who will say, “You made it. Welcome!”

Let that hope sustain you. Let it spur you on. Let it hold you fast all the way through this life to the end.