Temptation

Have you ever noticed that, if there is more than one kid in a room where something has been broken, it is always the other one’s fault? Even more amazing is that, if there is just one child in the room, the dog did it, even if you don’t have a dog.

James 1
¹³And remember, no one who wants to do wrong should ever say, "God is tempting me." God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else either. ¹⁴Temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires.

Christians sometimes get the mistaken impression that, when things come into their lives that pull them away from the Father, somehow God is tempting them. That couldn’t be further from the truth. God doesn’t need to tempt us; we have a nature within us that does a very good job of trying to get between our God and us.

James tells us that God does not tempt anyone and neither is He tempted to do wrong. Now, we all know that Satan tempted Jesus, so is the Bible contradicting itself? Since our Father is not a God of confusion, we know that there can be no contradiction; it is not in His nature. The scripture says that He is never tempted to do wrong. The difference between Jesus and man in relation to temptation is that, while He was tempted by Satan, He never contemplated giving in and doing the wrong thing. His relationship with His Father was such that the strength to resist was always there.

If temptations do not come from God, where do they come from? James tells us that temptations come from the “lure of our own evil desires.” In other words, we tempt ourselves by allowing our sinful nature to control our actions. Even though Jesus was tempted physically, emotionally, and spiritually, He never contemplated “doing wrong” because He was in tune with God’s will.

We only need look in the mirror to find the source of our desire to give in to sin. As Christians, however, we only need look at Jesus to see how to overcome these temptations. Jesus maintained a constant relationship with Father through communications. He frequently took time to get by Himself and talk to His Father. He also had God’s word hidden in His heart. When it came time to rebuff Satan, Jesus quoted scripture.

In the immortal words of the comic strip character Pogo, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Thankfully, however, we have found a friend, and He is Jesus.

We serve an awesome God!!!!!