Good Morning All!
James 1:14-15; “Everyone is
tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him. Then desire
becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin. When sin grows up, it gives birth to
death”
I can remember them well. All those sayings
that my mother used to say to me. “One day your face will stick like
that.” “Don’t come running to me when
you fall off and break your leg.” There
are others but the one that she used to say, that turned out to be completely
accurate was the one about “Don’t pick on that scab or it will leave a
scar.” That one was right; I have the
scars to prove it, more than a few.
It would always occur the same way. I would
be running or riding my bike on the gravel, and I would slip or slide and then
slide along the gravel for a ways. It
might be a knee or an elbow, but it was a good scrape. The area that was
scabbing over was an inch or two in size. Mom would always warn, “Don’t pick at
it” but I couldn’t help it. I would start by lifting the edges and soon just
pull the whole thing off. After a while, a scar replaced a scab.
Our life is often like that. It seems
sometimes that there are just some things that are really hard to resist. It
might be like eating potato chips; it is really hard to eat just one. Yet when
we look at sinful temptations, it is really far more serious. Maybe that
temptation is to gossip or to be envious of our neighbor. Maybe we look and
lust after someone that we shouldn’t. These temptations are so difficult, and
they are so difficult because these temptations come from our own sinful
desires. This is why it is so hard to avoid temptation is that it originates in
our own heart, and it knows us well.
Then once it starts, it grows into
full-fledged sin which leads to our death. We cannot overcome this by our self.
This is why it was necessary for Jesus to come and die for us. This is why we
can only fight this battle with Jesus doing the battle. We can only win because
of God’s grace. We have to rely on our faith to deal with our temptations. It
is our only recourse. We need to listen to God and to flee from temptation. That
may mean avoiding certain people or certain places or looking at certain things.
This means we need to truly listen to God and to trust in him to deliver us
from temptation. Our hope and our salvation depend entirely on God’s strength
and upon his grace. Without his mercy, our temptations grow into sin and then
death. It is by his love that we are able to overcome the devil and his deceit.
Trust in God’s love to cover our sin.
Father of all mercy, on our own we fall short. Be
with us and protect us from the temptations that can overcome us. Lead us by
your grace to resist the devil and his ways. Be especially with those who are
suffering from the devil’s ceaseless attacks and give them all of your Spirit
to protect them from all harm and danger. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen
God’s
Peace,
Pastor Bret