Codes for Christian Living

The Course of Temptation

When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. —JAMES 1:15

Salvation not only has its own cause; it also runs its own course. Sin leads us where we do not want to go, steers us toward defeat, and ultimately ends in death.

Temptation is like a weed growing amid flowers in a garden: left unchecked it takes over. Now, as I stated in chapter 7, a weed has three distinct features. It has a root, a shoot, and a fruit. Left alone, the root produces a shoot that bursts forth out of the ground and immediately produces a fruit that, in turn, produces more weeds. This is exactly what James was describing in the verse before us. The evil desires within us “conceive” (they take root), then they “give birth to sin” (they shoot up), and finally they become “full-grown” (they produce a dangerous fruit).

The root of temptation is a selfish desire, the shoot is a sinful decision, and the resulting fruit is a sure defeat. Or, as James put it, “When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” And a law of Scripture is as certain and sure as the law of gravity.

When a selfish desire enters the mind and takes root, we should remove it immediately. If we don’t, that desire will— like a weed—eventually produce fruit. To remove those thoughts the very moment one passes through your mind, immediately surrender your mind to Christ. Pray, “Lord, my mind is Yours, and my heart is Yours. Please put Your thoughts in me.” If possible, open the Bible and feed on God’s thoughts.

Left alone, the root of selfish desire will inevitably give way to the shoot of a sinful decision. Sin is the result of a selfish desire left unchecked and our deliberate choice to act on that desire.

So, how should we deal with temptation, its cause, and its course? Most often, we should deal with temptation in the same way we deal with weeds in our garden. We can’t only deal with the fruit: we cut off the tops of the weeds, but in a few days the weeds are back. Similarly, dealing with the fruit—saying, “We’ll just stop sinning”—addresses only the externals. Another option is mowing the weeds all the way down to the ground, cutting off the shoots. The garden looks good and weed-free for a while.

The only effective way to deal with temptation is at its root. Let God pull out our sinful desires. He must change our desires and give us a new nature. The spiritually victorious life is an exchanged life, not merely a changed life. We give God our old life, and He will give us a brand-new life.

Content drawn from The James Code: 52 Scripture Principles for Putting Your Faith into Action.