How can evil desires spring up in a heart that is pure?
By entertaining any evil suggestion. The heart of Eve was as pure as heaven, when Satan said to her, “Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know, that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Gen. 2:4-5. If she had instantly responded, “God has forbidden it,” and turned away, no harm would have resulted; but by permitting the evil seed to remain in her heart, it brought forth evil desire. The thoughts of evil were Satan’s and not hers, and could not defile her; but there was a time when she adopted them, and then the temptation became sin. Satan and his emissaries may suggest evil thoughts to us, but they are not our thoughts till the will acts upon them. But there is no time nor space, where an evil thought entertained will not produce evil desire. The precise line between temptation and sin, may have been left obscure to warn us against approaching it.
