Dragged Away by Desires

James 1:12-18 "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

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 desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."

When I read this the first thing that comes to mind is a movie called Bruce Almighty. The comedy where Bruce Nolan(played by Jim Carrey) feels like God tempts him, irks him, and even says 'God is like a mean kid on an anthill, burning ants with a magnifying glass. And I'm the ant.' God (played by Morgan Freeman) confronts him and allows Bruce to have 'god-like' powers to see if he could do better. Bruce soon found himself benefiting only himself. Later when he sat down being overwhelmed by prayers of the world or so he thought for he was only receiving ones in his city, eventually Bruce figures that if he answered everyones prayer the way they want that everything would be good but eventually finds the reverse. The city comes to the destructive forces and riots in the city. Eventually Bruce finds that things are better left in God's hands and life he had might of not been that bad. I rather enjoy this film actually.

The same story talks about different trials that we might face, even Bruce having the worst day of his life tried to shoo people away from a helpless man and ends up getting beat up and his car vandalized. I like to see it as us having that bad day, but sometimes its continual and everyday in our walk. Even if we stand up for the right thing we might be punished. No matter the consequences now though we just see a small frame of God's work, not God's big picture. "Having stood the test, that person will recieve the crown of life that the Lord promised to those who love him." It is sort of like a vaccine. In the short run, Needles hurt when they prick you, but in the long term we will not have to suffer various diseases.

This comes to a reassurance yet again of who God is. God is not a "wishy-washy" or like the wavering shadow but that God is a good gift giver. Giving us truth that we may be the first fruits of all that he created.