Temptation
Who is to blame when you are tempted?
As you were browsing through the paper, did the title of this article jump out at you? I was hoping it would. Some of you may have been thinking, “Wait a minute! That’s not right. God doesn’t do that” – and you know, you’d be right. Actually, this title comes from something that James said in James 1:13. He said, “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.”
Every now and then, when something bad happens, God gets the blame. Some think that God actually causes evil to happen, while others think that God could have (at the very least) prevented it from happening. Both of these attitudes are often apparent when it comes to temptation. Some believe that when they fall into temptation and do some wrong that God either caused it, or (at the very least) didn’t prevent it. James points out that it’s not God’s fault so don’t be blaming Him. He said, “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” (vv. 14-15).
You see, friends, spiritual death is the result of sin. We sin when we give in to temptation; and we are tempted when we allow our desires to get out of hand. James says, “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” (v. 12).