Are you tempted at times to sin, to lose control, to give in to evil passions, lusts, and envy? The apostle James tells us, “Let no one say when he is tempted to sin and break God’s Law], I am being tempted by God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death” (James 1:13-15). Sin starts in the mind and the heart with the desire dwells on it and becomes ensnared. It is defined as breaking or transgressing God’s Law (I John 3:4). Paul then tells us, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Sin leads to the penalty of death. How pervasive is sin? Solomon wrote, “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Sometimes sin can just seem so right. A person may think there is nothing wrong with – i.e. a cigarette, or a drink, or trying a drug, or gambling just once – and the next thing they know they are enslaved by a habit that leads them to death.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 02:17:10 +0000