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“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” (James 1:13-15 NASB1995)
What does it mean to be tempted by evil? It means to be enticed, to have an urge or an inclination to do something that is wrong, that is sinful, and that is against God’s holiness and his commandments and his divine will and purpose for our lives. It means to be attracted, lured, aroused, and seduced by one’s own lust into doing something that is evil. It is an issue of the heart that can lead to the objectification of other people. And lust is an intense and often uncontrolled desire, particularly sexual, that is sinful and wicked.
“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.” (See Matthew 15:17-20 and Luke 6:45)
And there are people who are addicted to sin who are caught in a web of self-deception where they will blame God and/or other humans for their own sinful practices, rather than to look into their own hearts to see the real source of their sinful addiction. So they might claim they “got a raw deal,” to excuse away their sin. So, their rational for their sinful behaviors will be centered on what someone else did or did not do as the reason they sinned rather than to blame themselves and what is stored up in their hearts.
But it is not anyone’s else’s fault but your own if you choose sin over God, over spouse, and over faithfulness and purity of mind and heart. For many people who are addicted to the lusts of the flesh, especially to sexual immorality, will definitely objectify other people, degrading them to the status of a mere object. For that is what you will do if you are addicted to pornography or to any sexually stimulated material, for you do that to the actors and you do that to your spouses, too, when you commit adultery.
And many faithful spouses will suffer the pain, not only of you choosing the lusts of your flesh over loving them and being faithful to them, but of you treating them like they are someone for you to stomp on and to treat like dirt. For they will suffer the pain of watching the one that they love pursue someone else, whether it is a live and in person someone or a person on a screen or in a chat or an email. For they love the addicted spouse, only to not be loved in return, but only to have their hearts stomped on, instead.
Putting Aside All Filthiness
“Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:21-25 NASB1995)
So, if you are someone who is caught in that web of deceit, who is deliberately and habitually sinning against God and against spouse and against others you sin against, please take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror of your soul, and when you do, don’t just walk away and forget what you look like. Don’t ask God to show you why you do what you do and then ignore him when he reveals the truth to you in the mirror. For you can watch all the videos and read all the books on sexual idolatry and still continue living in sin if your heart is not ready to respond to the Lord.
You have to want to obey God or you will never obey God. You have to want to forsake your sinful practices or you will never forsake your sinful practices. For if your heart is bent on sin, sin is what you will continue to practice. You will never conquer your sinful addiction in your own flesh or just by reading books and watching videos. You have to have a change of heart, for it is from your heart that comes all these evil thoughts and lusts and practices. But don’t just look into your heart and say, “Yep! That’s me!,” and then go right back to living in sin and recommitting adultery.
Be willing and ready to have God deliver you from the evil that is stored up in your heart and to let go of your sinful addiction to now love and serve God and spouse and others with the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. And study the Scriptures, in context, not just for intellectual stimulation or curiosity or habit, but out of a desire to do what they teach us that we must all do as those who are of genuine faith in the Lord Jesus. For if sin remains our practice, and not obedience to God, according to the Scriptures, we do not have salvation from sin nor eternal life with God. Please believe this!
[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
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Enticed By Your Lust
An Original Work / May 7, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
