Trials, Temptations, and The Heart
If you read the first 2 chapters of Genesis carefully, you’ll quickly see that what makes us distinct from the rest of creation is our ability to interpret the facts before us and respond in ways that glorify our Creator (or not.) We don’t just live by the facts, we live by how we interpret those facts as we see in Genesis 3 where Eve listened to Satan re-interpret the facts of what God said.
Fast forward to James 1 and now we are instructed how to respond differently to trials.
Christians who follow James’ wisdom can be transformed in how they respond to the facts of their trials.
What we have learned is that looking inward instead of outwardly blaming God is an important part of the process. It’s not the only part we’ve learned so far but it’s an important part.
By the grace of God we can resolve to resist the temptation to outwardly blame God and spend much more fruitful time examining our hearts. As God instructs us to be steadfast in James 1:4, 12 , one aspect is to grow and learn to know when we are tempted and to avoid being lured away. This is fruitful work especially as we grow to “count our trials” pure joy knowing God is at work.
We heard last Sunday that temptations aren’t sinful. They simply bring us to a point of decision (Galatians 5:14-16). What fantastic imagery we get from God’s Word! An untreated temptation can quickly be like a lure to a fisherman. Most fish have God given instincts to be nervous Nellie’s as they seek to feed all day long. Fish just won’t eat something that doesn’t look perfectly normal. When fly fishermen attempt to create a fly they go to great detail to make sure it looks organic and matches the bugs in the river. If not, they will never “lure” the fish away. Fish instinctively avoid flies that unnatural, inorganic, etc.
That’s a great picture for us. As we heard on Sunday, we need to engage with our temptations allowing God’s Word to inform our response and like fish, be extremely careful so we aren’t being lured away into sin. That’s step one on the road to “let steadfastness have its full effect.”
Step two is for many of us who do get lured away. God gives grace to those who realize they have been lured away and given birth to sin.
Repentance allows us to put off being lured away and turn to God in forgiveness.
What’s the key? Sobriety and intentionality (Hebrews 3:12-13) when it comes to examining our hearts and making sure we aren’t “enticed by his own desire.” Let’s not be lured away!