Don’t Blame God If You Swallow the Bait - James 1-3

James 1:13-15 (ESV)

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

We like to blame people for our mistakes.  We like to find a reason for our failures that allows us to have a clear conscious.  But, in truth, what James is telling us in the above passage is that the reason for our sinning is completely centered in our own lust and passions.   When we remember the record of Adam’s sin we can read that he blamed God by saying:

Genesis 3:12 (ESV)

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

So, it was God’s fault that He gave Adam such a weak woman.  We are the best at deflecting.   In the above passage we read three reasons that we should not blame God:

1.  God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.   God does not deal in the evil of the world.   God is in complete control but does not create, engage or use evil.   As one commentator said, He is like the sunshine that shines on a trash dump.  He has no connection with it, other than revealing its stench.   God does create calamity by allowing evil when He removes His grace.  But, He does not do evil (see Isaiah 45:7 and Job 1 & 2).  

2. Man is tempted because he has an in born bent to sin.   We have inward desires that do not leave us.  When we are regenerated by the Spirit we are freed from the penalty of those desires as we act on them.  When we are given the Spirit we are given power to overcome those desires.   When we yield to the Spirit.  But, we will not be free from the presence of those desires until we are glorified in heaven.   We are “lured” (like a worm on a hook to a fish) away.  The evil one knows the exact bait to use.  

3. Our inward desire gives birth to sin like a mother gives birth to children.   Our desires want to produce evil children.   If we do not stop our desires from producing these evil brats, it will eventually, unchecked, bring a child of death.   

Our sins are a product of our own inward filth.  We are to allow Christ to redeem us from their penalty and the Spirit of God to equip us to defeat their power.   We are not to blame God.  God does not lead us to temptation.    When we are instructed to pray , “Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” Jesus is telling us that God has the ability to deliver us from situations that might “lure” us to sin, but if we do sin, it is because we allowed the situation and/or circumstance to bait us into feeding our desires.