February 13

I cannot tell you how many times I begin to bow my head in prayer, and the thing on my heart is a feeling of sympathy for God.  You might be scratching your head right now, wondering what in the world I am talking about.  Perhaps you are not like me, but I find myself asking God over and over again for the same things.  I am not asking because He did not provid those things to me in the past.  I am asking, because I am a sinner, and I continually need His forgiveness; I continually need His help to restore me to a right standing with Him; and I need His help to stay away from that same sin again today. 

I feel sorry for God.  I remember our children coming to me to ask for forgiveness for something they had done wrong.  I was willing to give them forgiveness (of course), but I was always hopeful that they would learn a lesson from their failure and improve in their attempt to do right.  I am sure God is thinking the same thing when I come to Him repeatedly.  Today I want to share James 1:14 with you as a thought along this line.  “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

If there ever was something that we could say is “man-made,” it is sin.  Some of you Bible scholars are coming out of your skin right now.  Relax a bit … I know that Lucifer fell first, but my point is that sin is one thing we cannot blame God for in any way!  We may not have started sin, but we sure have perfected the practice of it.  I have noticed that when a person sins, one of the first, second, and third things they will do is try to find someone else to blame for it!  Adam blamed Eve … Eve blamed the serpent … the Devil had no one to blame.

James told us clearly that when a man is tempted and that man sins, he has no one to blame but himself.  The sooner we learn this lesson, the sooner we can find forgiveness, and restoration.  Although there may be times that we can point to another person as a contributing factor in our sin, the ultimate choice to sin was our own.  Being tempted is not sin.  As the verse clearly states, “every man is tempted.”  That’s a fact!  However, that temptation is not sin at the original point.  The sin that comes is when we are “drawn away.”  As we walk with God today, let’s guard our hearts for those moments of temptation. When then come, let’s draw closer to the Lord rather than allow ourselves to be drawn away.  Notice that the “drawing away” comes from “his own lust.”  Walk w/God today.  You have no one to blame if you don’t.

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