Not God's Fault

Verse of the day: James 1:13-14 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.

Nothing new under the sun. From the beginning of time man has pointed the finger at God, ultimately, for those moment when man has failed. Adam did it in the Garden when he, and Eve, ate the fruit of the tree that God told him not to eat from. He blamed Eve, but he pointed the finger at God. James is reminding us that when we stumble and sin, it is of our own doing, not God's. The word temptation that James uses earlier in this chapter is not the same as it is in these verses. God will allow temptations (tests) in order to try, and strengthen, our faith. In other words, He will allow certain trials, and tribulations, to come, in order to bring us to a place where we learn to trust Him, and learn how to respond to situations, circumstances, and life, as Jesus would; to make us more like Him. However, there are also those times, such as when something happens that causes us to sin, that originates within us, and not with God. If we would stop, and take a hard look at why we sin, we will discover that we were tempted because of our own lust, and desire, for something we should not have put our eyes, and attention, on. We have often made a decision to sin, all the while struggling within to resist, and knowing that the Spirit was nudging us, and trying to convict us, so that we would walk away or like Joseph, run away. When a person sits in front of a computer to watch porn, that desire was most likely ignited in that person's own thinking, and may have started with something as simple as having seen a commercial or television program containing partial nudity. Rather than change the channel, that person then begins entertaining lustful, and sinful ideas, which could not only lead to viewing porn, but also having affairs or committing fornication. This is just one example. You can pretty much apply that process to any situation in which a person falls to sin. This is why we must be very careful about what we choose to put before our eyes, what environment we put ourself in. If I know that I have a tendency to drink too much, I shouldn't go hang out with friends who like going to bars or going to places where there will be access to liquor. When we put our eyes on the forbidden, and place ourself in situations where our lusts are going to be aroused, we cannot blame God. Famous last words before falling, "I'm okay. I can resist." Wrong. It is better to say, "I wasn't there", than to say, "I was there, but I didn't do it". The fact of the matter is that we have days when we are strong, and others when we are weak. So, the best remedy is to take the same precautions on a strong day, as we would on a weak day. The best defense is to always stay in the Word, pray, and fellowship with others who will encourage us to live holy lives. If we have to, allow a brother/sister to be our accountability partner. Be sure to pick someone who will actually hold us accountable. The bottom line is that God is always with us, and we have access to the strength that will enable us to walk away from sinful temptations, but we have to be willing to make the choice not to feed the beast within by being careless about our environment without. Keep you eyes off of the sinful things of this world, and fix your eyes on Jesus. If we fail, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Why? Because we have none other than the Holy Spirit in us who can give us the supernatural strength to resist, walk away, and continue walking with God.