Tuesday, July 14, 2015
We all have favorite Bible passages. We cherish these passages because they are God's Word and also because these precious nuggets have served us well to comfort, encourage, and to teach. If we were sitting around a campfire talking about our favorites, this would be one of mine -- and maybe yours.
James 1:13-15 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.
WHY TEMPTATION IS HARD TO RESIST
I like to fish. One of the challenges of fishing is finding the proper bait because every fisherman counts on the fish wanting to take the bait.
It's possible that James was a fisherman. Even if he wasn't (we aren't sure just which James God used to write this book), what he says here is something every fisherman understands. In fact, this is something that we all need to understand about ourselves, lest we are tempted to blame God or someone else when we fall into sin.
When I choose a juicy night crawler from the little Styrofoam container and place it on my hook, I have no desire to eat the thing. It looks gross. However, when I toss it into the water and a fish sees it, it looks to him like juicy hamburger (or choose your own favorite food) does to me (my stomach is already grumbling).
Why does the fish eat the worm? It's because he is drawn to it by his own desire for food. It is his own desire to eat that leads him to take the worm and the hook and be caught and be eaten.
Why do we sin? It's a complicated question, but one that James here handles deftly. We often sin because we are tempted from within. Satan is a master angler and he knows what our sinful minds are like. He puts temptation before our eyes on the television and in movies. He sends bad messages into our minds using the radio. He doesn't make us sin; he sets the bait before our eyes and our corrupt minds and hearts take the bait.
We are caught! We have sinned and deserve death, but God accepted Jesus' sacrifice for sin to set us free from our sin and death. Our sins (past, present, and future) stand forgiven in the shed blood of Christ. And that's no fish story, it's Gospel truth.
