So no doubt there will be people who won't read any further as soon as they see that headline but I can't help that.
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 person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
James 1: 13-15
Evil desire is the mother of sin. We agree / mate with it and then it conceives. So the best thing to do is not to agree with the desire. If however you have - and there is no one who does not sin - abort that baby as soon as you can. The next best time to catch a sin is before it manifests itself in word or deed, i.e. before it comes to full term.
We sin first in our thoughts.
The root of the evil is in the desire you agreed with, something evil, harmful to your neighbour, that you wanted and weren't prepared to deny yourself. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9, 10, Ephesians 4:22).
The Lord searches out the heart, exposes its thoughts to you and asks you what you want to do with them. Your answer to that question determines your actions.
If we confess the evil desire of our heart, then we can see the cross working (Galatians 5:24) and God being faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Everyone sins, it is just a question of what you do with it. The thoughts of your heart can be forgiven you. In fact they can even be redeemed, bought back from evil and transformed into something good. But that's another days sermon.
Most of the time the confession of a thought can be made to God alone, but if the thought persists and seems to have got a hold in some way, then confess it to someone else you trust.
The first question Jesus asks of anyone wanting to be His disciple is: "What are you looking for?" (John 1:38). What do you really want in your heart? We ought to let the Lord shine His light on that for a long time until we really know because from the heart spring the issues of life. We are told to watch over it diligently (Proverbs 4:23).
Jesus says, and its true whether you are born again and have His spirit in you or not, that out of the heart flow the things that defile a man.
18 "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn't go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: "What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person."
Mark 7:18-23
So now you know the source of evil. And it isn't from God:
16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
James 3:16-18
So what to do? Be aware of your heart and its tendency to evil but know also that, if you are born again, another principle is also at work in your heart, the law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8:1, 4). Your responsibility is to walk in the spirit:
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 You however did not learn Christ that way 21 if indeed you have heard him and been taught by him as the the truth is in Jesus 22 that you lay aside, with regard to your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires; 23 that you be renewed in the spirit of your minds; 24 and that you put on the new self which is created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
Ephesians 4:17-24.
This new man can give a new answer from a new heart to the question Jesus asked: "What are you seeking?"
"Teach me, where are You abiding Jesus today?"
"Come," He replied, "and you will see."
John 1: 38-39.
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