May 12, 2019

TEMPTATION—>DESIRE—>SIN

James 1:14-15

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

Personal Challenge

To continue James' dissertation on temptation and sin, we are reminded that we, alone, are responsible for the sin in our lives. We cannot say, "The devil made me do it." There are so many ways that temptation enters our lives. If we are trying to live a godly life, one that seeks to be like Christ, then we will constantly be confronted by temptations that are contrary to that desired life. Temptations, in and of themselves, are not bad and not sins. If, however, we entertain that temptation to the point where it arouses one of our desires or passions that we have been striving to control or eliminate in our lives, then we have started down the path to sin. It is still not too late to say, "No!", and to run to God for help. If however, we choose to entertain that desire or passion, then sin has now been conceived and will be acted upon. This is all a series of choices that we make. The challenge in our lives is to keep saying, "No!", to the temptations and the desires, and "Yes!", to Christ. The blessing in all of this is that our God still stands ready to forgive us of our sins if we repent and return to Him. Glory be to God!