Temptations and the Growth of Faith

Our natural tendency is to avoid discomfort.  For a Christian, temptation defines discomfort.  In James the first chapter we read that we shall count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations.  It goes on to say that the trying of our faith worketh patience, but to let patience have her perfect work, so that we would become entire, wanting nothing.

James 1:13 – Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

Verse 14 – But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Verse 15 – Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Verse 16 – Do not err, my beloved brethren.

Verse 17 – Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Verse 22 – But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

I am very familiar with temptation. I also do not even pretend to understand all of God’s word. I do understand the pain of failure; the disappointment that haunts me when I have fallen short of what, in retrospect, I would have wished.

Two of the emotions that follow failure are despair and frustration. In my case, frustration is often associated with anger, and even wrath. Anger is explained as a strong feeling of displeasure.  Wrath is an extreme form of anger, which is destructive as well as vindictive.  This can lead a person to engage in extremely destructive, as well as vindictive behaviour, towards others, and even towards oneself.

We are taught in this chapter in James that these extreme feelings are not of God.  Neither are they helpful in resolving problems.

James 1:20 – For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

When we come to realize that we have not been victorious in our battle with temptations, our inclination is to let ourselves be driven into a helpless state.  This condition is a concoction of truth and untruth.

The truth is we have disappointed ourselves, and often others, as well.  Another truth is that phrase, “I did it. Again”. This “truth” starts the mixer going.  Memory of past failures. Blaming our defeat on the circumstances we are in; also Including others as a part of the blame.  These ingredients start the brew. A pinch of hopelessness, maybe a whole handful.  

Then we look around at all the others who didn’t yield today; all those who by every appearance, to our mind, have no such problem as ours, not even a hint of temptation. Now we add despair; then self-deprecating thoughts. Everywhere we look we see more evidence indicating that we are indeed disqualified to be a child of God.  Sometimes we taste the mix we have made.  Other times we smear it over our face, or even splatter great handfuls at the perfect people around us. We would so like to infect them as well.  Their placid overcoming behaviour is infuriating.  The zealots!

After a satisfactory session comes the wave of anxious awareness.  One more time we have reacted with an emotional tirade.  Better knowledge chides us, “This is a pattern we must break.  This cannot go on unchecked.”  So, we find the wash basin. We try to remove the evidence of the crime. With righteous indignation we scrub.  We choke back hopelessness.  We cry to God. We go into a self-proclaimed remorse-driven behaviour-improvement mode.  We smile at our enemies.  Bake cookies for those we hurt.  We think, “Maybe, if we behave for a week…well, this was a bad one. Maybe it will take a month, this time.”

Then, we reason that once God understands how serious we are about this, only then will we ask him to cleanse us.  We crave the words, “Well done, my child.” It would be so much better than coming to Him dirty, sinful, and needy.

Will God forgive us more readily if we have been on good behaviour for a while? Judas threw the silver at the feet of those who had paid him to carry out the betrayal of Jesus. Jesus had mercy on the thief on the cross who acknowledged his guilt.  However, in the case of Judas, returning the blood money gave him no relief.  His only way out required full disclosure of his heart.  Apparently, he was not able to do it.  Rather, he was determined to pay the price. We too, like Judas, may want to return the silver.  Pay the price. Some people commit spiritual suicide, hoping to pay the price.

It’s better to come to Jesus. 

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30