No One Else To Blame Series

• Step 3 - Disobedience – an act of my will

James turns to another picture here – that of childbirth. When a child is conceived, unless something intervenes in the process, it will inevitably lead to the birth of the child nine months later. As we have already seen, our desires are a lot like that. If we don’t allow God to give us the right desires, it will inevitably lead to deception and if we don’t deal with that deception, it will inevitably lead to disobedience.

Disobedience takes us to the next level. It is not merely an emotion or even just a thought in my mind. It is an act of my will where I make a conscious decision to act upon the thoughts in my mind. I actually take the bait and become ensnared by sin.

• Step 4 – Death

My first inclination was that James was describing spiritual death here. But we need to remember his audience. He is not writing here to unbelievers, but rather to believers who were once spiritually dead, but who are now alive in Christ. So if he’s not writing about spiritual death here, what is he referring to?

There seem to be two possibilities. First, both Paul and John describe that sin can lead to physical death:

1 Corinthians 11:29–30 ESV

29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

1 John 5:16 ESV

16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

I can think of some sins that could certainly result in physical death – the one that immediately comes to mind is drunkenness that either leads to liver disease or gets someone killed while they are driving. But there are certainly others.

But the greater danger for most of us is what I would call “operational death.” When a believer allows some sin to become a lifestyle, if that person is a genuine believer, he or she does not lose his or her salvation. But that person does lose the ability to function under the power of the Holy Spirit and to live as an effective ambassador for Jesus. He or she can’t produce anything of lasting value. So everything that is produced becomes wood, hay and stubble that will be burned up when that person faces Jesus one day.

The reason that it’s important to understand the process is that there are appropriate steps I can take depending on where I am in the process. We’ll take a brief look at some of those practical steps:

• Let God change my desires

It seems like we’ve looked at this verse a lot lately so I won’t tarry too long here:

Psalm 37:4 ESV

4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

The more I get to know God - not just know about Him - the more my desires will begin to line up with His character. The more I saturate my life with His Word, and pray and worship, the easier it is for God to take my own selfish desires and transform the way I think about them so that I will want to satisfy those desires in a way that is pleasing to Him.