Devotion 17 - Guard your Desires
James 1:14-15 – “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.”
When and how does sin start? This verse suggests that the origin of sinful conduct is not external, but internal. This means the cause of sin is in ourselves. Satan’s suggestions do not endanger us as long as they do not become our own. Thus, the evil of temptation can be traced to the sinful desires of the human heart. For that reason, we are called to keep vigilant watch over our heart.
Proverbs 4:23 – “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
Prov.23:27 - "As a man thinks in his heart so is he".
The greatest battle we fight is always the battle within and our mind is where the battle is either won or lost.
As the saying goes "All the water in the world, no matter how hard it tries, can never sink a ship unless it gets inside. All the evil influence of the world, no matter how hard it tries, can never sink a Christian's soul unless it gets inside."
Eskimos in the barren North often kill wolves by taking a razor sharp knife and dipping it in blood. They let the blood freeze to the blade and repeat the procedure several times until the whole blade is coated with thick layer of blood. Then they bury the handle of the knife in the snow with the blade exposed. As the wolf begins to lick the blade, his tongue becomes numb and desensitized due to the cold. As he continues, his tongue begins to bleed, and he licks even faster—unaware that he is consuming his own blood and slowly killing himself.
In the same way, the enemy numbs us through desensitizing our hearts’ ‘unholy desire’ till our “own conscience (are) seared with a hot iron…” (1Tim.4:2). We, like the wolves, do not realize that we are dying—dying spiritually.
Guarding our Eye Gate
Matt.6:22-23 – “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.”
Many are “drawn away… and enticed” by dark desires because they have allowed darkness to come into their souls through the eye gate!
Let’s learn an important lesson from the story of David & Bathsheba (2Sam.11:2-4)
“Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her…”
David lost his battle of his eye which caused him to lose battle of his heart!
Men are sexual creatures. Their sex drive is a very real driving force in their mind, even among the best of them. This is due to their testosterone hormones. If they cultivate their sex drive with pornography and immoral fantasies, it will become almost an uncontrollable force. And if we don’t deal with our flesh privately, our flesh will deal with us publicly.
Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny. – Ralph Emerson
Ps.101:2 - “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes”