Purify Your Mind Series (Part 3) by Joe KirbySample

Don’t Blame God

"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’m sure we’ve all heard someone play the blame game: “It’s not my fault! So-and-so made me do it.” Perhaps you find yourself blaming your friends or siblings when you get into trouble. But have you ever blamed God for your sin? In the few years I’ve been in ministry, I’ve heard many kinds of people play the blame game. Some say, “Why did God give me these desires?” Some say, “Why doesn’t God just remove this sin from my life? I’ve called out to Him, but He is ignoring me.” I heard one man’s wife on the radio say that when she caught her husband watching pornography, his response was, “I can’t help it; women are just too gorgeous.”

"And the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'” (Genesis 3:13)

Some don’t blame God or women, but the Devil and his workers. “Satan made me do it,” was Eve’s first excuse for her sin; sadly, this excuse is becoming more and more popular among young Christians. People often email me about their lust struggles, and it is not uncommon for them to ask me for deliverance. They believe there is a demon of lust making them sin, and if the demon is cast out, they will stop sinning. In my experience, if a person returns to the sin these “deliverance ministers” claim it’s because the demon has come back.

But James dismisses all of these excuses! “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed” (1:14). You choose to sin when you listen to your own sinful flesh’s desires. God tests us, but He never tempts us. And although Satan is the Tempter, he cannot force you to sin. The responsibility is with you, believer, and if we are honest, we know Satan doesn’t need to tempt us; we go looking for trouble on our own.