The Sin Cycle and God’s Velvet Covered Brick Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: The Sin Cycle and God’s Velvet Covered Brick Keywords: "cycle" "death" "James 1" "lust" "temptation" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: James 1:15-16* 15. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it bring forth death. 16. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Questions 1. Describe the sequence of events from the conception of lust to death (see verse 15 above).    2. James warns about deception in verse 16. What deception is involved in thinking that clicking on Internet pornography is harmless or even beneficial (refer back to James 1:15)?   3. What is significant about calling people who are prone to self-deception "beloved brethren"?   Practical help Lust is the starting point. Death is the end. James pictures lust as a conception that results in the birth of a sin. In the conception of a human being, we know that the moment of conception results in the creation of a new person who develops during pregnancy and which results in a newborn baby. Clearly, we do not die physically every time we sin. However, there is a death of sorts every time we answer the bell and give in to lust. There is a personal death, a dying of the kind of person we want to be and that God wants us to be. God wants us to live. Life is found in saying No to the inappropriate desire for what God has forbidden (like Internet porn) and turning to Him in trusting reliance. When God deals with a man or a woman struggling with temptation (like the temptation to go places on the Web they know they shouldn't), He does so with loving firmness. He doesn't minimize the real danger involved with yielding to temptation. But, he doesn't stop loving tempted people! He continues to tenderly call us His beloved while warning of the danger of death if we yield to the temptation to sin. Today, when you are tempted, remember that God loves you, struggles and all, and loves you so much that He warns you to flee sin. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 1998, 2003 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission." ---