Desire

James 1:12-15
12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
(NIV)

As a growing young teenager I would eat almost anything that I could find. Actually I still do today. When hunger sat in I could get very creative, even when the food in the pantry was slim pickens. There was one thing that would break me of hunger and I would rather choose starvation. Brussel Sprouts! Just the smell of them would make my skin crawl and nausea would set in. One thing for sure is nobody can make me eat Brussel Sprouts! Now if Brussel Sprouts were sin I would be walking on water!

Think about it, the Devil can not make us sin. No one can make us sin. They can only tempt us to sin. There is no “Genetic Sin Strand” there is only temptation. Sin is a choice, just as much as righteousness is a choice! Therefore we are truly without excuse. Now if you put a slab of Baby Back ribs, hot off the grill, dripping with BB-Q sauce, in front of me I am going to devour every bit of meat off those bones and lick them clean because I love BB-Q ribs. So it is with sin and righteousness. We can not stay away from that which we love, because what we love we are going to be addicted to. If we love sin we will not stop sinning. If we love righteousness we are not going to keep sinning. For our souls sake we must love righteousness more than sin. We have to fall in love with Jesus and love the things He loves and hate the things he hates. What we love we will be committed to. If we love Jesus we will hate sin and love holiness, righteousness, and purity.