15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
As we consider the life-cycle of sin we understand that sin is an internal matter. But what happens from start to finish in regards to sin? Sin starts with a desire, a want, a perceived lack or injustice. James uses the illustration of conception and birth to discuss the process. Desire itself must do something in order to get the sin rolling. Desire must sit still long enough to conceive. Desire itself is not the problem. The problem arises as we sit with desire too long, and start to hold hands and kiss desire. It is not the initial look that gets us in trouble, but the second and third looks. It happens long before we decide to move in together with desire that we are in trouble. Once that desire has moved beyond that initial God-given impulse, we are in trouble. Conception has taken place. There is going to be a birth, but not of the kind we want to celebrate. That which is born is an ugly thing: sin. Once sin has been born we tend to feed it and nurture it. We spend more and more of our lives centered around it. Our thinking and actions move in ever smaller spiraling circles until our life collapses on itself. Perhaps we don’t get to the smallest loop of that spiral before we die, but we are on that track. And when sin is allowed to grow and mature, it will kill you. Sin will rule your life. Think for a moment about your sin. Can you track the process from conception to birth? Learn that cycle so that you can stop it in its tracks. We can stop the conception by not dwelling on the desire. We can stop the growth of sin by not feeding and nurturing it. At any point along the way we can turn from the sin and it will slowly wither and die. It will lose its grip on us over time, because we will be devoting our energies and attentions to other things. We get to choose where we put our thoughts after that initial desire. Where are you going to allow your thoughts to wander today?