Have you Been Deceived?

Have you been deceived?
Have you been pulled off course by what you believed about temptation and the work of the enemy in our lives?

I've been reading in James the last few weeks and I was struck by something I think I've often missed because of how our English Bibles separate verses and paragraphs.

In James 1:13-18, James goes from talking about temptation to talking about God being the One who gives good gifts and is never changing. In the middle of this passage, there is a key verse that somehow links these two seemingly different things.

James 1:16 says, "Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters."

Because these words are the start of a paragraph about God' good gifts and His being not changing, I have always put verse 16 solely with these words in my thoughts. The visual of being in the same paragraph meant that's how I read it.

But, when I was reading recently, I found that I read the verses before and paused after reading verse 16. When I read it this way, I saw a link of verse 16 with the verses beforehand; a link I think we can easily miss. At least, I often do.

James 1:13-16 says:

"When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires and enticed. Them, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown gives birth to death.
Do not be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters."

I asked you the questions I began this post with, not to make you feel bad, but to help you see my point. I'm going to guess that everyone reading this could answer yes. All the varying degrees and at various times. But, I think I'm pretty safe to say we've all be deceived at some point - especially about temptation and sin. After all, our enemy is a master of deception and wants nothing more than for us to be deceived, because it gives him control in our lives.

These verses in James highlight an area where being deceived is especially dangerous. If Satan can get us to believe that God is tempting us, he has a lot of influence in our lives. When it comes to temptation, it is vital that we know and understand the truth, so we don't fall to the enemy's schemes.

God may allow the temptation, but He is never the one tempting us. And He always provides a way out when it does come, so we can stand (1 Corinthians 10:13). If we don;t know this truth, we won't be able to stand on it, and we'll fall for the enemy's schemes every time.

The reality is, we often imply or outright say that our temptation is from God and this is not true. These words in James 1:13-16 make it pretty clear that God does not tempt us. When Scripture speaks of someone facing temptation, it always says the temptation was by Satan (Matthew 4:1).

Temptation always comes from our evil desires, the fallen humanity in us, and Satan will use that to grab hold of us and deceive us. Satan will use whatever he can frond to play on those desires and get us to give in to sin.

We cannot be deceived in this area. Temptation is not from God.

Prince of Peace

Crisp, cool air. Clear, blue skies.

A world covered in white reflecting the brilliant sun.

Snow falling over the tops of my boots with every step, as I sank into the soft, fluffy snow.

The noise of traffic on the road nearby muffled by these depths of snow. Snowplow blades scraping on the road, the only noise carrying to where I am.

There's something about the snow that makes this crazy world we live in seem more peaceful. It forces us to slow down. It creates silence where there's usually noise.

It may be past Christmas now. We've had the day where we celebrate the birth of the Messiah. But that is where my thoughts are drawn again as I walk.

Jesus was called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6 where His birth is prophesied. In a world where peace often seems elusive - both globally and in our individual lives - it seems fitting to me that we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace at this time of year. For a brief time, there seems to be a way to escape the craziness and find some peace.

The snow has reminded me of that. And I'm encouraged to look for ways to experience the Prince of Peace in the midst of the craziness that life often is.

Why is Christmas so Important?

This year has been a bit harder than usual for me to get into the "Christmas spirit." I know it's not about a feeling or anything like that. But it's seemed like I was just doing all the things I usually do at Christmas and they were just things to check off my list - just going through the motions. Almost like I was just tired of doing the same thing every year.

Something was missing. And even my niece's excitement, or her rearranging my nativity set so that everyone is worshiping baby Jesus, "because that's what Christmas is about, auntie," wasn't helping me. To be honest I was tired of it all, and in the midst of my tiredness, I was missing why we were doing this thing.

Then I went to church on Dec 23 - not a Christmas Eve service yet, our regular weekend services. Except it wasn't - at least not for me. Something clicked as we sang the familiar songs, as I listened to the message, as we took communion together. The rest of the story doesn't happen without Christmas.

Sure, God could have found a different way to start His rescue story. But, He didn't. He chose to send His Son to earth to live and die for us. So, the cross and the resurrection started here. The story begins at Christmas with a baby in a manger.

At our Christmas Eve service, I was struck by the words of these familiar songs. We sing them every year, and I know I often have without realizing how they point to the mission of rescue Jesus was on for His life on earth. They speak of the freedom He was coming to bring. Of the healing He is bringing. They speak of the hope that was held in the birth of this child.

And so I'm reminded again of the importance of what we celebrate today. Christmas was the start of God's rescue plan for His creation. We often and easily see the cross and the resurrection as God's rescue plan, but Christmas was where the plan was launched. The birth of the Savior as a baby.