James 5:8 “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”
The eternal state of God’s Children is securely and permanently fixed by the sovereign will and power of God: nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39), “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father‘s hand.” (John 10:29), and “all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39). However, our “hearts” are not so fixed that we cannot be tempted and led astray in both thoughts and deeds. Therefore, James instructs us to “stablish your hearts”, which requires considerable action on our part. We are subject to the deceptive “wiles of the devil” (Eph 6:11), whose desire is to “devour” us as a “roaring lion” (I Peter5:8); he seeks and leaps upon an unsuspecting prey and then wildly devours it. Knowing this beforehand, we should diligently “stablish” our “hearts” by girding “up the loins of your mind” (I Peter 1:3). Our defense, is to “pray always” (Luke 21:36), “gird up” our “minds” by reading the Word of God daily, attend the worship services at Church, and put those things that we learn into practice; thus, we “stablish” our “hearts. Let us diligently “stablish” our “hearts” in the Lord’s Word and in our daily walk.