James on Temptation

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempeth he any man… Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. — James 1:12&17

Summer is upon Pine Valley, which means lifeguard training, work orientation, team building, and lots of early morning devotionals. While summer is a time to make a lot of extra money (and lose a lot of sleep), my favorite part of summer is being part of a devo group. Yes: summer is probably the most physically draining part of my year, but it is without a doubt the most spiritually invigorating.

This year, the devo groups are working out of James. I’ve never really studied James intensely, but let me just state up front that James (on the surface) appears to have some sort of ADHD or something. The guy jumps from one subject to the next like he has too many things to say it and not enough time to do it. He jumps instantly from HELLO to, “Hey, it’s great when we fall into trouble, right? Oh, and hey, if you need wisdom, God’s there; just ask. Also, don’t be double minded. Being rich is cool, but doesn’t last. Now. Let’s talk about temptation,” all within the space of half a chapter.

And I’m not saying that he isn’t right to jump from one topic to the next — they are all connected if you look closer. I’m not going to go into how because, you know, this is a blog. I don’t have THAT much time.

But seriously. Let’s talk about temptation.

One of the questions out of the devotional we’re using (James a 12 week study by Greg Gilbert if you want to check it out yourself) is:

The Bible teaches that often, in God’s providence, he ordains that his people should face trials. What passages of Scripture teach that truth? What stories in the Bible illustrate that?

Hold on. I’ve got three for you.

One: let’s just start from the beginning with the obvious choice. Adam and Eve. The first and probably most well known trial, which was also probably one of the biggest gifts. Depends on how you take it. Oh, I’m talking about the gift of free will.

Two: the second incredibly obvious choice. Job. I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who has come close to the kind of trial Job faced. It was a loss that struck physically, spiritually, emotionally, and commercially.

Three: the third and final obvious of choices: Jesus. There’s a reason they called it the temptation in the wilderness… because he was tempted. With a trial. In the same way that we will be. Like a human. And he rocked it.

Now the real question of the hour is not, “Why does God send trials?” but “What does God NOT do?”

Answer: God does not tempt us to sin.

Sub-answer: But Satan does!

I mean, let’s check out all those other trials and what went wrong. Adam and Eve are given the opportunity to choose good or evil, but it was Satan who tempted them to sin, “Did God REALLY say…?” Job faces the opportunity to trust God despite shifting circumstances, but Satan is the one who actually tries to get him to, “Curse God and die.” And Jesus actually came face to face with his tempter and told him to take a hike (well, he said “Get thee behind me,” but I feel like that’s basically the same thing).

Adam and Eve, Job, Jesus; they can all tell you the temptation did not come from God. It comes from Satan’s desire to make us desire “more” for ourselves. When this “more” is really nothing of worth when you pay attention. Was a piece of fruit worth more than an entire garden? Is loss of life and liveliehood more important than a loss of soul? Would you rather bend the knee to a tyrant or rule side by side as joint heirs with Christ?

Our problem is not just with false desire, but a lack of foresight. Short sightedness. Temptation is one of the more effective ploys used by the Enemy to make us doubt the goodness of the Giver. What is it James just told us? “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” He gave us life out of light and truth. What temptation is great enough to separate us from this?

Conclusion: God does not tempt us to sin. All trials are designed to bring us closer to God; that we come to him in the face of hardship. He’s not sitting up there with our distinct temptations that really get us personally in a book, cackling on his throne going, “Heh, yeah — that one’ll really get her! I can’t wait to see her mess it up big time!” No. I don’t think so.

Problem is, James tells us, is that temptation is like lust — it entices and seduces, and we bite down on it, and can’t get our lips out of the hook. Then we are drawn away into it, the lust grows and conceives real sin, and then it brings *yikes* death. It takes a lot of vulnerability to go to Christ with that hook still in our mouths and go, “Help.”

But we should. We should totally swallow our pride if we do fall into temptation, because we are going to get dragged along into a scary place. James calls God the Father of lights. The Bible calls Satan the prince of darkness and lies, and that’s where temptation leads us; right into his realm. There are no shadows or darkness in the light; only heat, energy, and sight. In Satan there is certainly that possibility for descent into entropy and death.

This is the truth of the light: We have been born of God, begotten of Christ. Not of evil, or shadow, or sin. We are born again into light, goodness, peace, bravery, kindness, hope, love, beauty, righteousness, mercy, and truth. He has turned us from our capivity to temptation and lust to freedom in his love.

But now I have to go to work, so this is Autumn, signing off.

~Autumn

#discombobulatedrubbish