What does James 1:14 mean?
In the previous verse, James made it clear that God is not responsible for tempting us to move away from Him. Even when He allows great ordeals to come into our lives, we should never say He means to provoke us to disobey Him. God does not tempt anyone to do evil. Rather, He intends those struggles as opportunities to deepen our trust in Him.There is no doubt that the temptation to despair exists. Especially in the midst of hard times, we feel the pull to disobey God, to be unfaithful, to move away from Him. Where does that temptation come from? Here James reveals the answer: The call is coming from inside our own house! In other words, we are lured away from God in the midst of trials by our own desires. On one level, we simply want to sin. Christians have been freed from slavery to sin (See Romans 6), but we haven't completely lost the taste for sin. The desire remains.
James tells us to own up to that desire to sin. We need to hold ourselves responsible. He wants to warn us that, on this side of eternity, our "old self" (Ephesians 4:22) is looking for an excuse to move back into sinfulness. Sometimes, we will use trials as that excuse to disobey God instead of to trust Him at a deeper level.
Verse 15 will reveal the consequences of taking our own bait to sin.
James 1:2–18 begins with a challenging command for Christians. We are to classify hard things in their lives as ''joyful,'' because those ordeals help us develop a deeper trust in God. Christians who trust God also seek wisdom from Him—and not from ungodly sources. We continue to trust Him through difficult experiences, in part, to receive the crown of life promised to those who don't stop. We don't blame Him for our desire to sin, but we do credit Him for every good thing in our lives.
How important is it for Christians to trust God? It's so important, James writes, that we should call our worst moments joyful things, because trials help us trust God more. People who trust God ask Him for wisdom—and then take what He gives. People who trust God make a bigger deal about their rewards in the next life than their wealth in this one. People who trust God don't blame Him for their desire to sin; they give Him credit for all that is good in their lives. They look into His Word, and they act on what they see there.
