"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 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." (James 1: 12-15)We know that we do sin, and therefore cannot deduce that only non-sinners get a crown of life. Who has the Lord promised this crown to? Those that love Him. So, there must be an important link between loving Christ and enduring temptation. It reminds me of something I wrote about affections last week. This verse tell me that I was on track in tackling temptation by pursuing a love for God and His Word! Loving Jesus does not mean that we will never sin, but it does keep us from being as vulnerable to temptation as we would otherwise be. Think of it this way: We cannot serve two masters. We cannot love our sin and Christ concurrently. The more we love our sin, the less we will love God. Conversely, the more we love God, the less we will love our sin. And we will be better able to view our circumstances and the temptation from God's perspective -- seeing what is true and what is a lie. So, I see a deeper love for Christ as a very important aspect of dealing with temptation.
God doesn't tempt me. He allows me to be tempted in my circumstances, and He does not always prevent Satan from bringing temptation to me, but He does not tempt me Himself. I Corinthains 10:13 goes along with this, not only showing that God filters or limits the temptation that we receive, but that He is faithful and wants us to withstand temptation: "...God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able..." We are so apt to blame God, but He is always faithful and never to be blamemd -- He is for us, and not against us (see Romans 8)
Towards the end of this passage, there is a description of how temptation works in bringing about sin and death in us. It starts with my desires, and where do they come from? They come from my sinful flesh, and they are the opposite of the new desires placed in my heart by the Holy Spirit since salvation. So it is helpful for me to understand what temptation is and how to stop it in its tracks. I can prevent (to some degree) my sinful desires from drawing me away by pursuing the desires of the Spirit. (Along the lines of what I said earlier about affections for God) I can stop temptation in its tracks by recognizing that my sinful desires are being drawn out in my present situation, and turning from them, before I myself am drawn away into sin. I will teach and remind myself what this downward progression looks like and the seriousness of where this train goes if unstopped. Being aware of the outcome of what I am being tempted to do is simply knowing the facts before making an informed decision. Satan hates us knowing the facts! But I have seen sin's efffect in my own life and marriage, and I need to remember that and flee from it at the earliest opportunity. And finally, I can learn from my failures in temptation by looking back and seeing where I missed "escape routes." I should ask God to grant me true repentance to turn from sin in my heart now, and better recognize my sinful desires and actions and the "way of escape" next time.
Temptation can be so overwhelming and frustrating. But seeing these things from God's Word can get us going in the right direction. Praise God for His faithfulness!
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