Temptation: Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat

of every tree of the garden’ (Genesis 3:1)? “In the day that You eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die (Genesis 2:17).  Temptation, is a universal experience. James tells us that we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires and enticed (James 1:14).  But drawn away from what? Last day we were saying that the essence of life,  both life eternal and in all its fullness, is in relationship with God.  Since all wrong doing (sin),  separates us from Him (Isaiah 59:2), we are primarily drawn away from His presence.  But also, since the one who sins becomes addicted to sin, and only the truth sets us free (John 8:34, 32), then we are also drawn away from truth.  Finally, we are also drawn away from the  protection of obedience “you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

There has to be something attractive to entice us (entrap, catch us as with a bait), or we would not be tempted. Few of us are tempted to eat dirt! But let's not pretend that there is no pleasure in sin. It is however both fleeting (Hebrews 11:25),  and addictive. Being tempted is not sin,  in and of itself. However, it too easily leads to the next stage that “desire conceives and then gives birth to sin” (James 1:15).  How many of us have flirted with the darkness?  Hormones are aroused,  and in our imagination we contemplate the delight of what it would be like.  This is so dangerous, Jesus could declare that we have already committed adultery in our hearts (Matthew 5:28).

I knew some of the things I was doing were wrong. I either didn't know, or didn't care (until I did) about the law of sowing and reaping (Galatians 6:7), that is bad choices have bad consequences. But I kept bumping up against the reality that this is how it is. It was certainly not the abundant life (John 10:10b)! James' teaching concludes with “and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”  We will talk more about this means.  In the meantime,  we might not like the way the universe is, but it is what it is, and it was designed to bring us to repentance, to our turning from sin,  and embracing the the free gift of life (Mark1:15).

In the end the choice is simple, we either choose life, or we choose death. But the Serpent is a deceiver, and he uses doubt and temptation (enticement) as a kind of pincer movement on our senses. We can choose what we think we want, but no matter how hard we try,  we cannot choose to not suffer the consequences of our choices.  And many times we try very hard, even denying the pain, but in reality, we suffer even more. The consequences are intended to bring us back into our right mind, and into the arms of the Father (Luke 15:17-20). For many of us,  we were not willing to change until the pain of those consequences became greater than the fear and pain of change.

Father, we thought that doing what we wanted to do,  was freedom. But as Jesus said,  the one who sins is addicted to sin. On the other hand true freedom is found in continuing in Your word, meditating on it and obeying it (John 8:31-34).  True freedom is being able to choose to not do what harms us. Thank You for the truth of Your Word  in Jesus Name Amen