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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
The
Life Cycle of Desire
(James 1:13-15)
by
Karl J. Forehand
this newsletter is sent out unedited. I know that pains some of you literary
perfectionists; but it creates valuable time for me.
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God";
for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried
away and enticed by his own lust.
Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is
accomplished, it brings forth death.
(James 1:13-15)
Historian
Shelby Foote tells of a soldier who was wounded at the battle of Shiloh
during the American Civil War and was ordered to go to the rear. The fighting
was fierce and within minutes he returned to his commanding officer. “Captain,
give me a gun!” he shouted. “This fight ain’t got any rear!” (Daily Walk,
July 10, 1993)
Sometimes are life feel like
that. We are bombarded by challenges,
tests and temptations. There seems to
be no escape from the “battle.” In
that confusion of life, we often want to blame God by saying things like,
“God why did you tempt me if you didn’t want me to mess up?” James answers that question in this
passage.
Understand first: God allows testing in our life. These are tough situations on the
outside. Satan sends
temptations. These are inward
suggestions that lead us to sin. God
cannot be the author of such things.
Understand also that when times are tough on the outside (trials), we
are vulnerable to deception on the inside (temptation).
Testing can come in financial
hardship, but also in prosperity. We
can be tested in good times and bad.
We often complain to God, questions His love and resist His will
(which leaves us open to temptations.
Temptation is not a sin. Temptation is Satan’s attempt to lure you
away and give you opportunity to sin.
Jesus was tempted in “every way,” but He didn’t sin (Hebrews
4:15). C.S. Lewis made these
observations:
“No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be
good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation
means. That is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know
how strong it is....Christ, because He was the only Man who never yielded to
temptation, is also the only Man who knows to the full what temptation
means.” (Today
in the Word, November, 1998, p. 24)
But, doesn’t the Lord’s prayer
say “Lead us not into temptation?”
How does that apply? If I
accept the testing of God, I become stronger. The trials on the outside don’t become the temptation on the
inside. I endure and become more
mature. But if I question God and
resist His will, I become vulnerable to temptation. So, I avoid temptation by following God’s lead and accepting
the testing.
We can’t blame God for
temptation, for He is not the author.
When we are faced with trials designed to make us stronger, we often
fold and leave ourselves open to our own desires. Temptation, very simply, is desiring a
good thing in the wrong way. Passing
a test is good, but cheating to achieve it is the wrong way. Sex is good, but outside marriage is the
wrong way. Provision for our families
is good, but cheating or stealing to get it is the wrong way.
God allows trials to strengthen
us. How does Satan work then? Orel Hershiser, the Dodger’s baseball
pitcher, gives us some insight when
he says:
“There are two theories of pitching,” Hershiser says. “One is
that you try to convince the batter that a particular pitch is coming and you
throw something different. The other theory, that you don’t hear as much, but
that I use, is that if the batter expects a particular pitch, you throw it,
but you throw it in a place where he can’t hit it.” That is: Know what a batter
wants or expects and throw the ball almost there. If he is a highball hitter,
throw it a bit too high. His eagerness will prevent him from laying off it,
but it will be hard to hit well. (Doug Cecil, Dallas Connection, Spring, 1995, p. 1)
Let’s talk about the life cycle
of desire.
1. It begins with desire
Epithumia is the Greek
word used here. It means “desire,”
but it is desire that results from pathos. Pathos is the “diseased condition of the soul.” We get “pathological” from this word. We have a pathological problem with our
desires. No matter who you are, you
have desires that spring from your sinful nature.
How is that a problem? The problem is that most of our desires
are too well fed. We feed them
through day dreams. We nurture them
through what we see, what we hear, and where we go. On the television show “Hee Haw,” In an episode, a patient
complaining that he has broken His arm in two places approaches Doc
Campbell. Doc advises him to “stay
out of those places.”
When we encounter a trial, the
beast that we have been feeding under the porch comes forth. We have been training our dog to sit on
the porch. He does fairly well until
he sees a squirrel or a bird. Then,
he leaps off the porch and it takes forever to get him back. If our desires are nurtured and healthy,
they will pursue sin that is presented to them. God’s Word gives us further guidance:
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey
its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as
instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (Romans 6:12-13)
The dog is going to chase
the rabbit if you give him the option.
2. It is conceived by deception
Satan never says, “If you cheat on this
test, you will possibly fail the course and bring disgrace upon your
self.” He never says, “Why don’t you
have this affair that will ruin your life and many of those around you.” He never says, “Drive fast and reckless
and you may kill innocent people.”
That would be truth. He works
by deception.
Satan whispers, “God doesn’t really love
you.” He suggests “What does it
matter what you do – nobody cares about you.” He hinted to Eve, “Did God really say…?” He contrives, “Everyone is against you,
you should be in control, etc.”
Advertising gives us the same deception
and the same sense. One company says,
“You deserve a break today,” suggesting you are more noble than anyone else. Another says, “You’ve earned it.” The society used to say, “If it feels
good, do it.” Now, it says, “Just do
it.” The Red Baron died from
listening to those suggestion when he followed an enemy plane a little too
far. Sin is conceived when we buy the
deception offered by Satan. Then,
3. It is born in sin
Sin is “missing the mark.” Sin comes when the temptation and the
desire meet and lead us away from the standard. We say, “I want to accomplish something.” We end up accomplish the wrong thing or we
accomplish the right thing in the wrong way.
Ultimately, when we arrive at the point of
sin, we say, “What happened?” We
immediately respond, “Well, it’s not my fault!” We utter phrases like, “Under the circumstance…” and begin to
blame others for our mistakes.
James make the point
very clear, in this passage, “IT IS YOUR FAULT!” It was YOUR desire and YOUR decision to accept the deception
that gave birth to sin. We have to
stop blaming the church and the
conditions. We have to stop shifting
responsibility to God and others for OUR decisions. God gave us the free will to make decisions because He loves
us. We can’t blame anyone for the
things we decide to do.
Desire is an emotion. The life cycle begins with an emotional
reaction. The deception appeals to
our intellect. Our minds are deceived into thinking we
are making the right decision. But,
the actual sin is a matter of the will. So, we not only need to control our
emotions and decide intellectually not to sin – we also have to exercise the
will not to sin.
The exercise of the will, or the lack
thereof, is the major difference between child and adult. Adults feel the same desires. Adults have the same temptations. However, True mature adults exercise the
will. What is the end result.
4. The end is death
We are deceived into sinning because we
want to “live.” This is the big lie
that every teenager eventually experiments with. They say, “I have to do this so I can live life.” The reality: sin does not mature into
life, rather it deteriorates into spiritual death. Maturity is not in rebellion – maturity is in obedience.
The bottom line: It is your fault. Take responsibility for your desire that
you are nurturing and stop enabling it.
Learn to discern the schemes of the Devil and avoid his deception. Learn to exercise your will, even when
everything within you wants to sin.
Then you will truly live!
Karl J. Forehand, 2002
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