Hands-On Temptation

“But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”
(James 1:14)

Little Billy was told not to eat any sweets before supper, so his mom was furious when she found him in the pantry on a stool with his hand in the cookie jar. “Billy! What are you doing?” his mom shouted. Billy just looked back sheepishly & said, “Fightin’ temptation”.

We often find ourselves “fightin’ temptation” with our hand in the cookie jar. We try to get as close as we can to sin…without sinning. But we also mistake temptation for sin itself & when we mistake temptation for sin…when we are tempted, we feel as though we have already sinned, so why not act on it, I mean we have to ask forgiveness for it anyway…right? But actually temptation is not sin at all.

In James 1, it tells us that we are all “…carried away & enticed by our own lust”, kind of destroys that “the Devil made me do it” argument, huh? But this being “carried away & enticed” is not sin. We often forget that Jesus was taken out & tempted by Satan himself & did not sin.

James goes on to tell us that, “…when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin”. In other words, when we act on that lust, that is when we sin or that is when that sin is birthed. If a bad thought crosses my mind & I am tempted by it, that’s not the sin, but when I take part in it, then that’s sin. For example, let’s say that I am tempted to lie; now that isn’t a sin…until I do it.

So if we are just being tempted by that cookie, we can overcome it through Christ without sinning. But if we go stickin’ our hand in the jar…it’s time to repent.

Vern