Tempting but….

Have you ever looked upon someone and lusted after them? Hmmm I invoke the fifth amendment. Oh all right, of course I have and may I dare to say, so have you! I have transitioned into my golden years and yet even today I have times when I see a beautiful woman sitting there displaying all but a quarter of an inch of her perfectly tanned legs in her micro-mini skirt and my old eyes nearly pop out of my wrinkled up face. I pant like a lizard and drool with my tongue hanging out right up until the point that my wife sinks her elbow into my side.

God made me like this you know. I have too much testosterone running through my system even now. It’s HIS fault for making me like this you know.

I also have a propensity to lose my temper. I used to fight like a savage pit bull and ended up in jail plenty of times and was actually kicked out of the military as a diagnosed sociopath. Sociopaths are those people who are said not to have a conscience and who often go on to become serial killers.

That is God’s fault too. I must have been a bad seed. He should not have created me with bad temper sociopathic genetics.

I am also an alcoholic. I love the feeling of getting high and the only bottle that I did not like was an empty one. The problem was that it just did not like me very much.

That is God’s fault too, because I have relatives that are alcoholics. Alcoholism is hereditary you know.

There are other sins that I commit, but I cannot recount them all because some of you complain that my messages are too long. But rest assured that I am not responsible for any of them either, because God made me the way that I am. It is HIS fault you know.

Baloney! In our society there are those who use logic such as the foregoing to justify whatever it is that they want to do. Actually we always have a choice to sin or not to sin and God always provides a way to escape temptation. The Bible assures us of that and also that no temptation is greater than our ability to withstand it. The Bible states that temptation does not come from God and that He is incapable of tempting us, or being tempted Himself. Temptation comes from satan. Be aware of where it is coming from when faced with it. It also says that we are blessed when we endure temptation. James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.


I do not have to stare and lust. I have a choice to do that or not. I may have been a certified sociopath, but I did not have to become a serial killer, I put the clamp down on my temper and went on to become a serial entrepreneur. I had a choice all along. I don’t have to get drunk either. I quit drinking years ago and the same goes for taking drugs. I still desire them on occasion, and sometimes it is almost too much to bear, but I steadfastly resist. I have a choice and I choose not to go down that devastating path.

Think about those such as homosexuals who burn with lust for those of the same sex. They and some in society claim that they were just born like that and there is nothing that can be done about it, because God made them that way. I am not a bigot or homophobic to call sin for what it is, sin. I do not see any difference from the sin of burning with lust for a member of the opposite sex or the same sex. According to the Bible, both are sin and are wrong and we all have a choice as to whether or not to take the escape route provided by God or to give in to satan and commit the sin.

Or that poor little gang-banger who wants to shoot someone right between the eyes and then steal his watch because he was raised poor by a single mother in a rough neighborhood and his father and his father’s father are in prison for murder and it is in his genes to be a murderer too. I used to carry a .357 magnum around and one time when I had just shot up methamphetamine nearly shot someone right between the eyes myself. I had a choice and at the last conceivable second I chose not to do it. I could have just as easily gone the other way.


Sorry, but I just do not buy it, anymore than I buy into that I had to be a serial killer, alcoholic, drug addict, or have the morals of an alley tomcat because you know what, God did NOT make me like that. I have always had a free will and I made my choices just like every other human being on this planet. It has not always been easy and satan knows how to tempt us and does, but we can withstand it and I and billions of others are living proof of it. We all have a choice to sin or repent, (turn from sin).

Alcoholics should not hang out around bars, and homosexuals should avoid gay bars and those with an uncontrollable temper should not carry guns. All of us should be in church on Sunday, on our knees in prayer asking God to deliver us from sin, and we should study the Bible daily. It is not rocket science.

One of the underlying themes of my book is recounting the choices that I made throughout my life. We are in a constant battle of good versus evil in this world. I made extremely bad choices in my early years and became pure evil, and but for the grace of God would be, should be, dead, or in prison, or in an insane asylum, miserable, lonely, penniless, without family or friends and lost as a consequence of those sins. Fortunately I found Jesus Christ and none of that is in my life today.

I have not always made the best choices since I became a Christian, but since I accepted Christ as my Savior, I have always regretted sin in my life and have worked hard to rid myself of it and make the right choices to avoid sin. I now make more good choices than bad and God has forgiven my past poor behavior and rotten sin and has blessed me enormously.

Washington DC may not hold society accountable for what it does, but God insists upon personal accountability. Sin is sin and there is no getting around it. Not an idle word will be spoken in our lives that will not be recounted when we face judgment and rest assured no sin will be ignored. Thank God for sending Jesus Christ who never gave in to a single sin and became the perfect sacrifice and paid the penalty for all of the sins against God’s perfect and holy laws. Those of us who choose to accept Him and His sacrifice and for taking the punishment for the sin in our lives are forgiven. I love Him with all of my heart for what He did for me. I am ashamed to say that I have not always lived the perfect life, but he did and saved me. How about you?

James 1:13
Let no one say when he is
tempted, “I am tempted by God”, for
God cannot be tempted by evil, nor
does He Himself tempt anyone.
But each one is tempted when
he is drawn away by his own desires
and enticed.
Then when desire has
conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin,
when it is full grown, brings forth
death.