Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #147

Temptation

James 1

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 13-15) "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted why, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

My Thoughts

When you are tempted, have you ever said that God is tempting you? Have you ever said that God is testing you? I do believe that God does test us, but I do not believe that God puts us into those situations. The situations, whatever they may be, do come and God allows them to happen, but He does not cause them to happen.

As James says here, temptation is caused by desire. The desire to have or to do something that you know shouldn't arises, and out of that we are tempted. When we desire strongly for something that we shouldn't have or are denied having, that is when temptation arises If we can't let go of that desire, we give in to temptation, which then leads to sin.

Temptation itself is not a sin. The kind of temptation that James is talking about indeed leads to sin, but we use the word for other things that do not necessarily lead to sin. For example, when you are craving chips or chocolate or you are really wanting to do something specifically special again. You have a strong desire for whatever it is, to which we can be tempted as well. Giving in to the 'temptation' of chocolate is not a sin, but it can become so if you let it.

With that chocolate, if you are craving it or are 'tempted' by it, then just have it. Just don't go nuts with it and eat three or four bars. With chips, just don't eat the whole bag. You can cause yourself harm if you give in to that kind of thing. Now when it comes to being tempted by alcohol or sex or some kind of addiction, do not give yourself a taste because pretty well every single time, it ends up being 'one thing led to another...' kind of story. Just don't do it.

If you do end up giving in to the temptation, and you have that drink or take that pill or look at that picture/video, don't condemn yourself. Especially for an addiction. If you feel guilty, then that's your punishment discipline. Don't think of it as a failure, but rather a fall. This is the reason why:

Failure- The opposite of success. To fail means you cannot succeed. It takes the possibility of success away.

Fall- A temporary setback. To fall means only that your progress is slowed. You can still get back up and keep going.

If you think of these temporary setbacks as failures, then you will never succeed because you are not allowing yourself to succeed. on the other hand, if you'd only fallen down, then get back up and keep moving on. It may take you longer because you fell, but you are not out yet.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!