Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee
from you. Draw near to God and He will
draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,
you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 1:7-8 )
We have as much of God as we want. We also experience victory over temptation to
the degree we desire. Reaching for God
will effectually result in resisting the Devil.
There is no cause to blame God if He seems far away—He is where He has
always been: near those who seek Him!
The issue is that I have moved.
My heart has not been diligent to pursue God. Should I complain that God has not given me
the power to overcome sin, then, I am again shifting blame to the wrong
source. God made a way of escape, but
rather than running from the temptation, I was drawn to it by my lustful
heart. James had earlier said this,
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 )
I cannot enjoy the presence of God
and the pleasures of sin simultaneously.
The sad reality is that the same person can do both—just not at the same
time. Why would I want something other
than God? His presence is the great
joy—here and hereafter. Sin, although
sweet to the taste, is poison to the soul when swallowed. It doesn’t lead to the good life; it brings
death.
Where I have sinned, it is time to
come in brokenness before our God. The
cleansing fountain that flowed from Calvary
has not lost any efficacy to wash my dirty hands. My heart problem can be healed by the Great
Physician, if I will but seek Him rather than my sin. I can enjoy God’s presence today to the
degree I will reach for Him. I can
experience His power over temptation in the amount that I will resist the
Devil. Vitality and victory are my
birthright as a child of God. What folly
it is to choose the opposite!
No comments:
Post a Comment