James 1:13-15
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their OWN evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
This passage is profound to me because usually, when I go through temptations I blame the devil solely. But this passage tell us that the reason why we even struggle with temptations in the first place is because we are tempted by the evil desires that are ALREADY embedded within us.
In addition, one of the main reasons why we give in is because the consequences of our sin don’t seem as great as the ‘rewards’ of feeling a momentary pleasure that satisfies our flesh. A lot of times giving in to the temptations may seem harmless but the bible tells us the these desires lead to sin and eventually death spiritually and possibly even physically. So instead of giving in to temptations we should see them as a way of revealing what our evil desires are so that we may pray against them striving to overcome them before they overcome us!
