Reading your Bible for Today September 28

September 28: James 1:13-18

KJV Key Verse: James 1:14
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Devotion:
So many people start to question religion of any kind when things go wrong in their lives. Christians are in that very same boat; many people do turn around to God and ask Him “why?”, as if He were personally responsible for what is happening to us. We know Christ is our God and He is walking with us daily – so long as we are walking with Him. To walk together takes two people!

We will not have to look very far into our lives to see the points where we have made a sharp turn away from God just so we can take pleasure in something we know within ourselves is not right. We are created with the desire to seek out God. We are created with the desire to seek the truth. We are created with an inherent knowledge that God is real and that He is our creator – yet we choose to bend the rules and the truth until it fits into our own little world. Then when things start to go wrong, we turn around and blame God for it!

God is never going to temp us into doing anything. He is holy and just and cannot tempt us with evil. So when we feel tempted to do something, we know at that point we are turning away from Christ's side. It is our own desire to do so because we think we will have something to gain from it, be it personal or monetary. It is those feelings which turn us away from God towards sin and allow us to get into all sorts of trouble. Even as Christians we still face those temptations and still have to fight them. But if we are willing to allow God to help us in our fight, then we will find it a whole lot easier!

We know God has given to us a perfect gift – His Son – so that we will not have to face the consequences of our temptations we have given in to. But this does not mean we can ignore them and sweep them under the carpet. It is Christ's position, and His alone, to forgive us of those sins – we need to take them to Him before we can see them swept away for us... not by us...

Points to Ponder:
Do your friends tempt you into things?

How many times do you call upon God to help you with those temptations?