James
1:14-15 (NLT)
Temptation comes
from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give
birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to
death.
Have you
ever heard of the “LSD” of sin? Here it
is from the book of James. The LSD here
is “Lust—Sin—Death”. The original Greek
word for “desires” used in this translation is “epithumia”, translated as not
only desire for what is forbidden, but also craving and lust. So the source of your temptation(s) is lust
and what lust does is to entice you and drag you away. The original words for “drags us away” has
the same imagery as what you might have watched on Animal Planet where victims
of lions or tigers, or crocodiles are lured from their hiding places or even
innocently attacked and killed. Remember
how “Crocodile Dundee” described to his girlfriend how a crocodile grabs its
victim and takes him to the bottom of the river and rolls him over and over
until he can be stuffed into some hiding place.
Terrifying imagery, yet that’s the imagery that James is describing here
about what the enticement of lust will do to you if you give in to it.
Adrian Rogers
preached that there are three sources of temptation—the flesh (our internal
foe), the world (our external foe) and the devil (our infernal foe). The temptations of the flesh attack our body,
the temptations of the world attack our soul, and the temptation of the devil
himself attacks our spirit. Fleshly
temptations tend to occur primarily in our younger years, temptations of the
world (e.g. greed, materialism, pride) occur primarily in our middle years, and
the temptations of the devil attacking our spirit (in the form of
discouragement, loneliness, feeling unworthy or useless) occur primarily in our
later years.
Lustful desires,
if not controlled, give birth to sinful actions. All sin starts in the mind and heart (Matthew
5:21-28); you are what you think (Proverbs 23:7). Jesus said in Matthew 15:19 that out of the
heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lying and
slander. Someone has said that the
problem with a little sin is that it does not stay little. What starts in the mind as a little thought
will eventually erupt as a huge sinful action if you do not put a stop to that
little thought right away. The subtlety
of sin is its deception that starts so small yet ends so destructive if not
dealt with. Think of any sin in your
life, particularly any habitual sin, and go back to when you first remember
committing it. What caused it in the
first place? You likely don’t even remember;
it was so small.
Sin, if allowed
to continue and spread, will give birth to death. The word for death is “thanatos” that can
mean death to the body, separation from God and misery in hell. James is not mincing words here. Uncontrolled sin, unconfessed sin, sin that
is never stopped will end up causing eternal death, a life in hell, a life
separated from God. That’s how serious
sin is according to the Word of God.
Despite what the
world says is not sin, don’t be deceived.
Sin in God’s eyes is not something to play around with, you must see it
as it is, as it is defined in the Word of God.
Allow your mind and heart to be convicted of any sin in your life and
confess it. God promises to forgive you
and to cleanse you of that sin (I John 1:9).
Then do all you can to stay away from whatever sources there might be in
your life to cause you to be tempted again to commit that sin. You deal with your desires first, ask the
Holy Spirit in you to push those desires behind you (Matthew 16:23), and you
won’t be led into temptation by these desires.
Write out
somewhere in a personal, private memo to yourself what desire(s) tempt you the
most where you are most vulnerable to those desires, then ask God now and every
day to help you keep those desires in check (I John 4:4) so that they do not
lead you into sin. Trust in the strength
of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) to help you overcome your temptations.
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