Sin doesn’t come hammering on your front door, forcing you to open up. Sin knows that if it arrives in that way, the homeowner will immediately lock the door to prevent the dirt from coming in.

Sin arrives softly and subtly, with no announcement. A small seed is planted in your brain more or less unnoticed, and you start thinking that small, inconspicuous thought, without realising it.

I suspect that if we knew how dangerous that thought was, we would get rid of it immediately.

In the same way I’ve taken up many projects in my life without really knowing what the impact on my life would be. A few years ago, for example, I bought a 4×4 camping trailer dirt cheap. It was mostly made of rust, and Renata insisted that she would never even get into such a thing, and sleep in it, no way.

I decided that I would renovate the trailer. If I had known beforehand how much energy it would take, I would most probably not even have bought it.

It’s the same with a little seed of sin that ends up in our thoughts. If we had known the net effect of the little seed that we lovingly kept in our thoughts, we would most probably have thrown it out immediately on arrival.

That’s the way sin works. It starts with a thought so beautifully packaged that you don’t want to get rid of it. You rather want to cherish it, because it sounds so good, it looks so nice …

The problem is that when we give such a thought enough energy, we deceive ourselves and eventually start doing what we think. Well, let me try it just once. Then I would just let it go again. But that’s the big lie that catches you.

I went through the army without becoming a smoker, but when I got to university, the other guys smoking and talking and blowing smoke rings seemed such a nice thing.

I tried and even though the first time was rough, I tried again. Before I knew it, I was smoking like a chimney. Eish, it was difficult to stop.

I suspect James is trying to say the same thing here: ^14-15The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.

First, it’s just a thought. Then it becomes an act that becomes normal, and the net effect is a cliff where God is not.

Let’s make it easy for ourselves and get rid of that thought the first time it pops up. Then we’ll save ourselves and others from a lot of pain.

Scripture
James 1:12-18

Reflection
What do your thoughts look like?
What do your deeds look like?
How can you get rid of the wrong things?

Prayer
Father, I know some things aren’t right, not only thoughts, but also deeds that started in thoughts. Help me get rid of them and live according to Your will. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.