Getting at the Root

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
(James 1:14-15 ESV)


I talked in an earlier post (Tempting Myself With Mister Twister) about the above text. This morning though I was reading Owen and he mentioned something that I thought would be helpful to share.

"When a man is drawn into any sin, he may be sure that he hath entered into temptation. All sin is from temptation. Sin is a fruit that comes only from that root."

He then goes on to explain that a person is not violently surprised in or with any sin, but that it is the temptation of the sin that overtakes the person. A person finds himself in a sin, he despises it and seeks to eliminate the sin from his life. He beats and pulls off the sin, but to no no lasting avail. The reason, says Owen, is that the man never gets at the root of the sin, which the temptation of sin reveals.

What Owen is encouraging us to do is to seek to pull the root out of the ground. He says that "to get conquest over any sin, we must consider the temptation to it, and strike at that root; without deliverance from thence, he will not be healed."

Like when David sinned with Bathsheba; the sin of adultery was already in Davids heart, and the temptation of Bathsheba walking on the roof top revealed it. Or that Judas had the sin of covetousness in him from the beginning; yet he didn't seek to satisfy his desire until the devil entered into him.

I thank the Lord for the wisdom of godly men like John Owen. I thank the Lord this morning, as I ponder my past, that He has surely pulled many roots of sin out of my heart. Yet I fear there are many more seeds that will be revealed to me through some temptation or another. I remember many temptations that led me into sin. Those same temptations come before me from time to time still now, yet I do not run toward, but away from the sin. This is the work of Jesus in me. I love Him so much. He cares enough about me to tend the soil of my heart with the care of a Master Gardner.