- all temptations come from our own desires
We believe the Bible is God’s way of talking to us, showing us his ultimate plan to “dwell” with mankind. The conscious disobedience of Eve and Adam in the garden of Eden by eating the forbidden fruit shows us that exercising freewill has consequences. The account of Cain killing his brother Abel, shows the importance of truly listening to, and following God’s way, rather than our own ideas.
By nature, humankind inherently follows its own desires:
“The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”
(Genesis 6:5 NIV)
In contrast, Noah chose to ‘obey God rather than man’, so God saved him and his family from death when He wiped out the rest of mankind in the flood.
The Bible teaches us about the consequences of choosing man’s way not God’s and that all temptations come from our own desires.
The apostle James helps to explain the process for us:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
(James 1: 13-15)
We all have freewill to choose what we do and what we don’t do. When a choice presents itself to us, we may want to choose the option which we know will lead us to turn our back on God and sin. That temptation is based on our own desires, and this is different for everyone. And as James says, no one does the tempting – only our own interest in the option on offer. So, we are responsible for what we end up choosing to do and we cannot blame any other being.
God created us with freewill to choose His way, or our own. By trying to overcoming our own temptations, we are choosing God’s way and have the hope of a future reward!
[All Bible references are from the New King James Version unless stated otherwise]
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