How do evil desires grow in me?

Deuteronomy 29:18“I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.”

James 4:2-3You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

Our desires may start out to be simple and even good. But if we let any desire become more of a priority than it should be, a seed is planted quietly, without fanfare or drums, without malice or evil intent—and we simply take a step away from God. With the second and third steps, we move farther from God, and the bitter, poisonous fruit of desire or lust begins to grow until we cannot control it.