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Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. James 1:14 (NIV)
There is this thing called desire in all of us. You can’t avoid it, and it can pull you in many directions. It can pull you in the direction of pride or cowardice, or lust or greed.
There is a moment in the soul when desire comes to life: “After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin” (1:15). The members of the Board cast their votes and the soul responds to the desire that its members have debated. Once desire has conceived, there is no stopping it.
The longer the soul debates its response to temptation, the more likely it is to give in. It’s like a battery charger—the longer you leave it running, the stronger the current it generates, or like a spring—the more you wind it up, the greater the energy it can discharge.
In a board meeting, when a discussion has been going on too long, eventually someone will say, “Call the question!” We have gathered information from the mind. We have considered the feelings of the heart. It is time to make a decision.
When you face temptation, the sooner you call the question the better. Temptation is like an unwanted salesman, the further you let him go, the harder it is to get rid of him. If you allow your soul to go on and on debating with evil, there will be a point where some of the members of your soul will give in for no other reason than they are fed up with the meeting.
Are you letting the power of temptation build in your soul? Will you begin practicing early response?
