The Course Of Temptation

THE ROOT: A SELFISH DESIRE

The word desire means “a strong urge, a craving of the soul.” There is nothing inherently wrong with desire. In fact, desires can be productive and beneficial when we satisfy them within the laws God prescribed for our well-being. But here James was dealing with selfish desires, those that crop up in our minds and hearts.

As we saw in the preceding chapter, when the internal source (desire) and the external force (deception) come together, sin is conceived. The word translated into our English word conceive means “to bring together.” So how does this bringing together happen? When we begin to desire something outside of God’s boundaries and we take the bait when it comes by, conception takes place, and sin has taken root. Sin grows and at some point bursts out into the open.

When a selfish desire enters the mind and takes root, we should remove it immediately. If we don’t, that desire will—like a weed—eventually produce fruit. To remove those thoughts the very moment one passes through your mind, immediately surrender your mind to Christ. Pray, “Lord, my mind is Yours, and my heart is Yours. Please put Your thoughts in me.” If possible, open the Bible and feed on God’s thoughts.

THE SHOOT: A SINFUL DECISION

Left alone, the root of selfish desire will inevitably give way to the shoot of a sinful decision. Sin is the result of a selfish desire left unchecked and our deliberate choice to act on that desire.

James said this desire eventually “gives birth to sin.” This Greek phrase suggests a child in the mother’s womb before making his appearance into the world. The evil desire cannot stay hidden within forever, any more than a child can stay in a mother’s womb indefinitely. That desire will, for sure, “give birth.” If the root of sin is left untouched in the heart, the shoot will emerge sooner or later. As the Bible says, “Your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

In James’s words, our internal desire “gives birth to sin.” The Greek behind the English word sin means “to miss the mark.” The ancient Greek writers used this word in primarily three ways. In the physical dimension, it describes an archer who aims at the target, lets go of the arrow, and misses the bull’s-eye. In the mental dimension, the word for sin describes a student who takes a test and fails to get the answers right. In the spiritual dimension, the word describes a person who knows a certain standard of behavior, yet falls below it. All of these individuals miss the mark.

Perhaps the most direct definition of sin is found in the Bible: “Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Sin is the natural result of an evil desire left untouched. If a selfish desire is the root, then a sinful decision is certainly the shoot.

THE FRUIT: A SURE DEFEAT

There is an obvious progression here. First there is conception, and then a stage of growth followed by a birth. But note carefully what James said about this birth: this sin “brings forth death!” It is stillborn!

James’s warning to us was to look ahead to where our sin is leading us. Paul was a bit more blunt: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Ever since the garden of Eden, physical death has been the destiny of every human being. But the wages of sin can also mean the death of dreams, relationships, ambitions, reputations, opportunities, and so much else that is good. Sin never brings anything good into our lives.

In this verse death means “separation.” In physical death, the spirit is separated from the body. In eternal death, the spirit of man is separated from God for all eternity. James was shouting at us, “Sin—when it is full-grown—gives birth to separation from all that is good! Wake up!”

When we take the bait, most of us never think of the possible consequences. Sin separates us from so much that is good and, all too often, results in the death of hopes, health, homes, and happiness.

We don’t have to read far in the Bible before coming to the most glaring and obvious proof of the costly toll temptation takes when it leads to sin. Adam and Eve’s fall began with their selfish desire to eat the forbidden fruit. It continued with their sinful decision to take it and eat. And it ended with a sure defeat: Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden. They experienced separation from God.

So, how should we deal with temptation, its cause, and its course? Most often, we should deal with temptation in the same way we deal with weeds in our garden. We can’t only deal with the fruit: we cut off the tops of the weeds, but in a few days the weeds are back. Similarly, dealing with the fruit—saying, “We’ll just stop sinning”—addresses only the externals. Another option is mowing the weeds all the way down to the ground, cutting off the shoots. The garden looks good and weed-free for a while.

The only effective way to deal with temptation is at its root. Let God pull out our sinful desires. He must change our desires and give us a new nature. The spiritually victorious life is an exchanged life, not merely a changed life. We give God our old life, and He will give us a brand-new life.

Let’s consider from this perspective why Satan failed so miserably in his attempts to lure Christ into temptation. He wiggled the bait in front of our Lord. The external force was there, but there was no evil desire in the heart of Christ. The Lord Jesus never considered taking Satan’s bait because Jesus kept His desires in line with the Father’s desires. Jesus answered all three wilderness temptations the same way: with the Word of God, saying, “It is written” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10). We, too, need to know and use the Word of God in our own encounters with temptation.

Do you see that the battlefield is the mind and heart? This is why Paul repeatedly said things like “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2) and “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Allowing our minds to think on impure things is dangerous and downright damaging. After all, those thoughts are the root of all sin.

One more thought about temptation. The first verse of Scripture I ever memorized was one I have quoted to myself thousands of times across the years: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).