"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.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:12-17
We are tempted in many ways- tempted to sin, tempted to stray away from God and disobey His commands, tempted to take the easy way out and shun the struggles in our spiritual lives, tempted to just fall away from God when the going gets tough. But the above verse makes it very clear that it is not God that does the tempting. God is perfect and righteous, He cannot tempt with evil. We are tempted by our own desires; Satan comes and gnaws at our desires, making them seem so attractive and irresistable, until we succumb. And to sum up the reasons why we would give in to temptation is simple- we want something for ourselves, we want some sort of pleasure for ourselves.
So when we face this temptation, we must bear this in mind- it may be part of God's will for us to face this temptation, or face whatever struggle that may come our way, but it is not God who tempts. What God wants from us is simple- "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." God wants us to face and endure the temptation. God wants us to hang in there, keep our eyes on Him and press on. God doesn't want us to take the easy way out. God wants us to triumph over the temptation.
It isn't easy, everyone knows. But we also have this motivation- "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning". Instead of yielding to the temptation in order to get something for ourselves, we can bring it before God and entrust our desires to Him, knowing full well that the good and perfect gifts are with Him, which He will give in His time and in accordance with His will. When we face temptation it is all too easy to just succumb and let go, but we must tell ourselves- we mustn't, we must hang in there and seek Him for His glory, and we know that in His time He will make everything right, He will give us His good and perfect gifts, and it will be much sweeter than anything that any temptation can ever offer.
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.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:12-17
We are tempted in many ways- tempted to sin, tempted to stray away from God and disobey His commands, tempted to take the easy way out and shun the struggles in our spiritual lives, tempted to just fall away from God when the going gets tough. But the above verse makes it very clear that it is not God that does the tempting. God is perfect and righteous, He cannot tempt with evil. We are tempted by our own desires; Satan comes and gnaws at our desires, making them seem so attractive and irresistable, until we succumb. And to sum up the reasons why we would give in to temptation is simple- we want something for ourselves, we want some sort of pleasure for ourselves.
So when we face this temptation, we must bear this in mind- it may be part of God's will for us to face this temptation, or face whatever struggle that may come our way, but it is not God who tempts. What God wants from us is simple- "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." God wants us to face and endure the temptation. God wants us to hang in there, keep our eyes on Him and press on. God doesn't want us to take the easy way out. God wants us to triumph over the temptation.
It isn't easy, everyone knows. But we also have this motivation- "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning". Instead of yielding to the temptation in order to get something for ourselves, we can bring it before God and entrust our desires to Him, knowing full well that the good and perfect gifts are with Him, which He will give in His time and in accordance with His will. When we face temptation it is all too easy to just succumb and let go, but we must tell ourselves- we mustn't, we must hang in there and seek Him for His glory, and we know that in His time He will make everything right, He will give us His good and perfect gifts, and it will be much sweeter than anything that any temptation can ever offer.
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