Verse: Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. James 1:13-16
One of the sins that are at the root of them all is pride. We think so highly of ourselves, and we never want to see ourselves for who we truly are, wretched sinners. Because of this we often blame others for our sins. We are often tempted to blame situations, circumstances, and others for the sins we commit and our failures.
As we saw in our last section, our heart or core is deceitfully wicked. Because of the fall of Adam, we are born in sin and can do nothing righteous without Christ. We need to understand that though we are tempted sometimes by outward forces, we are the ones who fall into sin. It is us who act. Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.” Jesus being fully man was tempted like us in his flesh and did not fall because he did not have a sin nature. The ownership is on us.
We are tempted to blame God at times for our sin which is the context of what James 1:13-16 is talking about. We see people especially in the homosexual community say, “Well God made me this way so how can He blame me for following my heart”. Well, that argument fails on two fronts. First, because God did not create you that way. Our sin nature is what corrupts us, but God’s creation was perfect and Good before sin entered it. Secondly, as we see in Jeremiah 17 your heart is deceitfully wicked. So when you follow it instead of scripture, you cannot blame God. This line of thinking applies to all sins and is disputed the same.
The second most popular blame game is on Satan. “The Devil made me do it.” Is a classic argument that also falls flat on its face. Though, unlike God, Satan does tempt you. He even had the gull to tempt Jesus while He was here on earth. But when you give into that sin, it is still on you. You have the Holy Spirit inside of you. He gives you the power not to fall into sin and live a righteous life.
It is the lust of our flesh that brings forth sin in our lives. As we see here, we sin when we are carried away by our lust. We give in to our flesh and buy the lie that it is better to please ourselves and not God. This is our pride.
We need to have a real understanding that sin has consequences whether in this life or after death. The consequence of sin is death. We must not allow ourselves to continue in that sin when we are tempted and fail. When we fail, we need to ask forgiveness, repent, and continue fighting. Don’t blame God, the Devil, circumstances, or others. Rather take ownership that you are a weak sinner and strive with the power of the Holy Spirit to change and conform closer to Christ.
Written By,
John Cooper Jr.
Godly Grunt 6
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