May 22 Temptation

May 22

Temptation

Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:

She was the only one who knew where the bag was hidden. The treasure it contained had been a recent gift from a relative and needed to be in a secure place. She knew where it was because she had hidden it. But a few days later she discovered the bag was empty and she knew who had emptied it.

She had. The bag had contained about a pound of wonderful home-made peanut brittle. She had consumed it within a few days so it would not be a temptation. She explained, with a sheepish smile, that since she ate it all she was no longer tempted by it because it was gone!

We may smile at her humorous logic. It is a little like the common expression “I can resist anything except temptation.”

 We find a serious comment about temptation in the first chapter of the book of James. There we are told that happiness is a result of enduring temptation.

We sometimes wonder why God sends temptations our way. Is it to help us learn to endure? No, not at all. If we think our temptations are from God, we are starting with a false premise. God does not send us temptations, and the scripture warns about thinking that way.

Jas 1:13 ¶ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

The next verse gives a clue where temptations come from.

Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted,

when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

That indictment grates on our “high self-esteem” culture. We didn’t do it, and if we did it wasn’t our fault. Blaming someone or something else is not a new idea. Adam and Eve both tried to excuse their sin. Eve blamed it on the serpent.

Ge 3:13 …And the woman said,

The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Even worse Adam blamed God!

Ge 3:12 And the man said,

The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,

When Moses came down from the mountain and saw a big naked party going on he asked Aaron what had happened.

Ex 32:22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.

 23 For they said unto me, Make us gods…,

Aaron blamed everyone else for the party atmosphere and then he blamed circumstances for the golden calf.

Ex 32:24 … Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire,

and there came out this calf.

 

At other times we excuse bad behavior because of our gene pool.  “I take after my mother …….my dad was that way…”

Or we try to explain we are victims of our environment. But the Bible tells us we cannot blame temptation on either our nature (genetics) or our nurture (environment).

But we all suffer from temptations from time to time. If we can learn where they come from perhaps that will give us a key to “enduring” the temptation and not giving in.The Bible is also clear about where temptations come from.

Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when

he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Here we learn that temptations come from within. Different people are tempted by different things. It is easy for us to condemn people who are tempted by things that do not tempt us. Few of us can walk through a modern mall without some temptation arising. There is the smell of pizza, popcorn, chocolate or cinnamon rolls, the desire for the latest fashion, or electronic gizmo, or skimpy women’s underwear, fancy cars, jet skis, jewelry, etc etc. If there is an area where you can be tempted it is probably in a mall somewhere. The point is we carry the desire within ourselves and when confronted with what entices us our inner desire wakes up and temptation begins to stir within us.

Temptations (lusts) are from within. Enticements (lures) do not create temptation, they only awaken the lusts within us.

You might walk by a bakery and just smell grease. If you have no lust for donuts you will not be tempted. Someone else smells the same bakery and all they can think about are donuts, cookies and cake. The bakery smell is not the source of their temptation, but it may be a lure for the temptations that reside in them.

John McArthur, in his commentary on James, has an interesting take on these verses. He sees a progression.  

Desire- Our temptations start with an inward desire.

Deception - When we are enticed we often deceive ourselves into why something would be OK just this once. We rationalize why we should be permitted to violate some scriptural teaching. Just as Eve saw the fruit was nice looking and desirable to make her wise and she was told it would be OK to eat it. But she violated what God had said. We deceive ourselves.

Design – We plan how we can do something and get away with it or otherwise avoid blame.

Disobedience – The culmination of desire, deception and design is disobedience.

The Bible explains the results of yielding to temptation in verse 15.

Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

The temptation we are discussing in this devotional is not the simple eating a donut, or buying a new phone. It is allowing temptation to take over even if that means we do not do what we should be doing, we yield to the sin of covetousness (gotta have the latest thing) or become poor stewards of what God has given us and waste both time and money trying to satisfy our temptations. (Lusts)

Our meditation for today is to be more alert to temptations, understand that they are from within and that we should learn to govern them and learn to endure the daily temptations we have. When you learn to endure temptations you will not feel deprived but delighted. Happy. That is the lesson for today. Don’t be tempted. Be happy. Double happy!

Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried,

he shall receive the crown of life,

which the Lord hath promised

to them that love him.