8-9-2025

 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 few feet.  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 ourselves.  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