When I am tempted...

James 1:13–15 (NASB95)

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

I can never blame GOD (It is never God’s fault)

The Holy Spirit is very aware of how trials of life impact the human psyche. The trials of life are usually beyond human control, and we recognize that they have been allowed by GOD and his providence. Because trials remove or strain what we perceive as a good and comfortable life, there’s a huge challenge of doing some sort of evil or something forbidden by GOD, or not do what aligns with God’s character, in order to obtain or regain what we feel is a better life experience. And many would conclude this experience to mean that GOD has to be the one motivating toward this evil. But James thoroughly disputes this line of thinking and defends the nature of GOD, reminding them that it is impossible for GOD to be motivated by evil, and neither does he motivate any human toward evil.

Application: Whether intentional or inadvertently, we have a tendency to shift blame away from ourselves. Shifting blame began in the garden and it still affects humans today with respect to certain evil in or around our lives. Some people even say today “If GOD didn’t want us to do evil, why did he ever create us on earth”, “This is the life or environment GOD put me in, that’s why I do what I do”, “It’s the parents GOD gave or didn’t give me”, etc. Ezek 18, Israel kept saying, the fathers ate sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set at edge or rotten. Blaming parents and GOD. And while all those might be a reality and real challenges, GOD is never the source behind any internal propensity of ours toward evil. So Jame’s instruction is clear, stop shifting blame! Especially toward GOD.

I can only blame my Self

So who is to blame? James in verse 14, tells us the psychology behind human propensity toward evil. He answers the question “When am I inclined to do something evil?” James says everybody, every human being, is motivated at the precise point when they are baited and dragged off. The dragging is the interesting word, because it is dragging with great effort, meaning there’s a lot of power involved. Again, it is easy to believe that something external has to have such power, but James the instrument that drags every individual is something inside of them!! Their own individual and personal lusts!!

Application: This is profound, because James’ explanation doesn’t even involve satan!! It’s not that satan isn’t involved, because we understand that part of his mission is to tempt, he is the active. However, temptation or motivation to evil happens upon us because of us, and that’s what James is emphasizing. He wants every human to take responsibility. But just what do we need to take responsibility for, our own desires. Often we focus on some manifestation, but if we’re going to fight it, we must start where it starts. The mind, the brain in fact. What is the Psychology behind desire and motivation? There’s a chemical messenger in our brains called dopamine. Whenever our brains anticipate getting a reward for something, dopamine is released. It is the key chemical in our brains that indicate the cycle of motivation, reward, and reinforcement. It happens with positive and negative experiences. What’s interesting is that it points back to a first experience, and when we contact another experience which presents a potential reward, dopamine gets active.

See it’s not the receiving of the reward, it’s the anticipation of receiving it.

Power and control - Abuse, cursing, any disobedience, revenge, rape - The human mind thinks it will be rewarded with power and control. Same with Eve.

Acceptance and popularity - Lie, hypocrisy, jealousy, promiscuity, apostasy - There’s a craving of acceptance.

Attention, happiness, and feeling loved - Strip, porn, adultery.

Desire is powerful.

It is a potential path of Self-Destruction

But desire is not sin itself, or the manifestation of that wrong relationship with GOD. James shows it is when desire entertains itself with any object of the desire, it breeds sinful behavior.

Application: Not only does dopamine affect motivation, but affects our judgment along with the frontal cortex of our brains. And begins planning and executing action according to that desire.

Example: If a person craves being loved, and if they associate that first non-marital sexual encounter with the reward of feeling loved. When a particular woman or man, comes in, temptation sets in. But it’s the plan and execution to go over and do all possible to experience the same sexual encounter, that is the birth of sin!!

But that’s not it. James says there’s a maturation in this process, because when sin reaches its goal, it is revealed that all the pleasurable rewards we associated with those objects of our desire, were false and actually only bring destruction.

Application: This is so in line with addiction. According to many psychologists, an addiction is not the same as a real bad habit. An addiction is when one keeps doing a behavior regardless of any negative consequences, no matter how much we are warned of the destruction upon our lives, seeking the thrill of our desire, we keep doing it!! And what’s crazy, is many addicts admit not even feeling what they first felt, they’ve just become dependent. It is total self-destruction!!

So, we can’t blame GOD, we can only blame self. Lord, I’m living in my own mess. Lord how can we get out of our own mess? Thank GOD for his son Jesus!! If anything at all, this passage should remind some and help others to see the intense need for a savior!!!