James 1:13 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.

Have you ever asked yourself why God allowed this to happen? He must not like me, or He is just trying to make life hard for me. These are words that I have heard and actually said myself before I truly knew Him. It is easy for us to blame God. We do not think we ourselves have anything to do with the temptations that we struggle with. And it is not feasible to blame Satan. He is just a little man in a costume with a pitchfork. So, the blame has to put on God, right?

No, it is not God who tempts. It is explained clearly here in James. God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt. The blame lies in two places. First, Satan does tempt us to sin. He will use any trick of the trade to bring us down into the pit. Not because He hates you, but because he hates God. Then the next person to blame is ourselves. We like to picture temptation in our minds. We let it peculate there until we can see ourselves doing the sin. Then guess what happens? That is right-we walk right into the middle of that temptation, and it comes to fruition.

This world is stacked against us. From the time we are born, we are sinners. We were conceived in sin and will live with sinful temptations until we die. We must accept this fact. But the good news is that God knows this too. He had a plan from the beginning to save us from the sin and temptation that corrupts us. This plan came in the form of Jesus Christ. He is the perfect, sinless Son of God. He is trying to call out to you and welcome you into His family every day. Are you listening?