“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.” – James 1:13-15
Never claim, “The devil made me do it” and never blame God for the sin in which you find yourself! The devil can’t make anyone do anything – he simply offers temptation. While God certainly permits trials in our lives, He doesn’t tempt us to sin. Honestly, we can’t even blame our friends, neighbors, coworkers, relatives, enemies, circumstances, or complete strangers for our sin. Sinning is completely our responsibility!
Note well the ”life cycle of sin” (or perhaps ”death cycle”)… We desire to sin. Even if we hate it, there’s something about it that appeals to us. Our desire lures and entices us. If we’re foolish, we flirt with it, dance with it, dwell on it, rationalize it, and justify it. If we aren’t quick to resist and willing to flee sinful desire, we permit the desire to grow and grow. We tell stories to ourselves about how it isn’t a big deal and how it doesn’t really hurt anyone. We question, like Satan in the Garden, whether God really said not to. We question God’s motives in saying not to.
Eventually, if we permit our mind to loiter on the desire, it conceives and gives birth to sin. We do whatever we desired. Perhaps it feels good for a moment. Perhaps we’re immediately ashamed or perhaps we aren’t. Nevertheless, sin doesn’t stop with sin. Sin’s ultimate purpose is death because sin inevitably leads to spiritual death. However, there’s hope! That hope is our Savior, Jesus Christ Who conquered sin and death on the cross. Jesus not only commands and empowers us to reject those sinful desires when they begin calling, He advocates for us if we fail and succumb to the temptation.
If you fall into sin, don’t stay there! Confess – agree with God that it was truly a vile and rebellious sin worthy of death and ask His forgiveness in Christ’s name. Repent – change your mind and commit to fight that temptation in the future. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)