Enduring Temptation

The Power of Humility and Enduring Temptation

In a world obsessed with status, wealth, and personal achievement, the call to humility sounds almost countercultural. Yet this ancient wisdom from the book of James offers us a radically different perspective on what truly matters in life—and how we can navigate the inevitable temptations that threaten to derail our spiritual journey.

The Great Equalizer: Humility

The letter of James presents us with two contrasting figures: the person of "low degree"—someone society overlooks or undervalues—and the wealthy person whom everyone notices and respects. But here's the surprising twist: God expects the exact same response from both. Humility.

For the person of low degree, the temptation is to believe they're unworthy of God's grace. Their humble circumstances might lead them to think, "I'm not worthy of what God has given me. This is just who I am. I'm stuck." But this self-deprecating mindset isn't true humility—it's actually a form of pride because the focus remains squarely on self.

Being in a difficult position is no excuse to reject God's grace. The church has a responsibility to lift up those who feel overlooked, recognizing that they have the same access to God's grace and the same position in the body of Christ as anyone else.

On the flip side, wealthy individuals face their own unique temptation. Jesus said it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because when you have wealth, you can easily fall into the illusion that you need nothing—and no one.

The wealthy must recognize that they need God's grace just as desperately as anyone else. Their financial status gives them no higher position in God's kingdom. In fact, they need the church community to help them navigate their own temptations and maintain spiritual perspective.

The Temporary Nature of Worldly Things

James uses a powerful metaphor comparing riches to grass that withers when the sun rises. Life is simply too short to focus on our stuff—what we own, what we lack, what we want, or what we're trying to acquire. Bigger houses, better jobs, nicer cars, fancier clothes—all of these things are temporary.

When our focus fixates on material possessions, it cannot simultaneously be on God. Scripture makes this clear: "No man can serve two masters." We cannot serve both God and wealth. When stuff becomes our focus, other people become our enemies because they want what we have. And we cannot be faithful witnesses to those we view as threats.

Here's the sobering reality: when a wealthy person dies, all their efforts to accumulate riches pass with them. The very thing they feared most happens—someone else gets their stuff. It's all vanity.

Whether we're rich or poor, we cannot let our financial status—or lack thereof—cause us to lose focus on pursuing Christ.

The Blessing of Endurance

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."

What a powerful promise! But what does it mean to endure temptation?

First, we need to understand what temptation actually is. A temptation is anything that pulls our focus away from following Christ. This definition makes temptation much broader than we might initially think. We all have different things that distract us, different areas where we struggle, whether we have much or little in terms of worldly possessions.

Enduring temptation simply means: don't quit. Don't quit trusting God. Don't give in. Yes, you might want to. Let's be honest about that. But you don't have to.

The promise attached to endurance is remarkable—a crown of life and true blessing for those who love God. And what does loving God look like? Jesus made it simple: if you love Him, you'll keep His commandments. And really, there are just two: love God with everything you are, and love others as much as you love yourself.

When we truly love God and others in this way, temptation remains just that—a temptation. It hasn't become lust. We haven't been enticed. We haven't sinned yet. We're simply enduring, waiting for God's promised escape.

The Danger of Entertainment

Here's where many of us stumble: we're supposed to endure temptation, but instead, we entertain it.

God doesn't tempt us—that's clear in Scripture. But He does allow temptation in our lives. Why? Not to make us fail, but to draw us closer to Him. He desires to work in our lives and receive glory through how we respond.

Every person is tempted when they're drawn away by their own lust. And we all have lusts—desires for things other than what God wants to give us or how He wants to give them. Lust isn't just sexual; it's any time our flesh wants something contrary to God's plan.

When temptation presents itself, we have a choice. We can watch and pray, remaining vigilant and feeding our spirit with God's Word. Or we can begin to entertain the temptation, thinking, "That sounds pretty good. I think I might enjoy that. I really need that. I deserve that."

There's an old story about an Indian with two dogs—one white and one black—that he would bring to dog fights. People would bet on which dog would win, but the Indian always knew the outcome. When asked his secret, he said simply: "The one I feed."

We have two natures—the spirit and the flesh. Whichever one we feed will win. We'll binge-watch television, scroll endlessly through social media, and pour hours into entertainment. But how much time do we spend feeding our spirit with God's Word? Are we binging on Jesus?

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The one that wins is the one that gets fed.

From Temptation to Sin

When lust is conceived, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it's finished, brings forth death. The wages of sin is death.

Here's something crucial to understand: it doesn't even take physical action to sin. Jesus taught that if we're angry with someone without cause, we're in danger of judgment. If we look at someone with lust in our hearts, we've already committed adultery. As someone thinks in their heart, so they are.

James essentially says, "Don't be foolish, beloved." Ask God for wisdom and discernment to identify, endure, and escape temptation. It really is that simple.

Why do we have sin in our lives? Because we don't actually want to be free from it. We either want God, or we want ourselves. We either feed what God gave us, or we feed our flesh. We either ask God for wisdom and choose what the Bible shows us is spiritual, or we reject all that and choose ourselves.

Every Good Gift

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

As children of God, we should understand that He is a wonderful heavenly Father who wants to work in our lives as we yield more to Him each day. We were created to walk with Him, talk with Him, and commune with Him. That's what He offered Adam and Eve—the choice to walk and talk with Him, or not.

They chose not to. We face the same choice every day.

When we live Spirit-led, Bible-fed lives, we produce His fruit in season: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. These are the first fruits we were created to bear—not so people will look at us and think we're impressive, but so they'll see how good God is.

Sin produces the fruit of the flesh, which always leads to death. But the fruit of the Spirit leads to abundant life—the very purpose for which we were created.

The question before each of us is simple: Which will we feed today?