Enduring Temptation to Sin by Following Him

James 1:12-18 

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. 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. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Enduring temptation is the testing of our faith with the desired outcome based on trusting and obeying God by yielding to God’s Spirit in accordance to His word’s commands and examples.  We who so endure are approved by God in Christ because of His righteousness in which we stand, purified with sin’s dross scraped off the top of our lives in the crucible of temptations and testing.  However, do not attribute the temptations to God, but our own fallen and sin-marred nature opposed to our Lord.  When we are tempted by the world, our flesh, and our pride to live apart from God (1 John 2:15-17), we either follow what we desire to our detriment or pursue what God desires for our good.  This wrong desire that grates against scripture lures us to the forbidden fruit of our own knowing what is best and bears the fruit of sin leading to death if not stopped (Hebrews 5:14, Romans 6:16, 1 John 5:17).  His word reminds us to stop deceiving ourselves and to remember all that is truly good comes from our Lord who is pure, holy, true, and who called us to His truth and righteousness by faith.  We are as the first fruits of His creation, who are created in His image to live as He says and wills, not as we find pleasurable or desirable.  Since we are so created and called back to this, we do well to endure and refuse what arouses our desires but opposes His clear will and calling to be conformed to His Son.