It takes great wisdom to learn from the mistakes of the past, and the greatest mistake of the past was the Fall of Man. Life in Eden was very simple. God provided for all of man's needs, and didn't even give them many commands. The most "burdensome" command? "Don't eat from that tree."
But then along came Satan to trick Eve. How did He do so? Pay close attention to Genesis 3:6. "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate."
Doesn't this sound like a wonderful fruit? It's good for food. It's pleasant to the eyes. It's desirable to make one wise. Why wouldn't Eve want to eat it? The only answer is "because God says so". But Eve didn't listen to God, did she?
This is what James means when he says each of us are tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires. Temptation exists because desire exists. I want you to imagine, you walk in the bathroom, and there you see Satan sitting by the toilet. And he says to you "look, someone forgot to flush. Doesn't that turd look tasty? I bet you'd just love to pick it up and eat it." What do you think? Obviously, you're not going to take him up on his offer, are you? Who'd want to eat a turd? You can't be tempted by it because you don't want anything to do with it.
But sin preys on what we do want. Now of course, desire isn't a bad thing. There are good, natural desires. And indeed, Adam and Eve had theirs met. They could eat from any other tree in the garden, even the Tree of Life. But they chose the one tree that was forbidden to them.
Likewise, we have many desires. It is even arguable that sinful desires are really just good desires that are corrupted by sin. Sex is not a bad thing. Wealth is not a bad thing. Food and drink are not bad things. These are all good desires that can lead us to evil. The desire for sex may cause us to fornicate, or commit adultery. The desire for wealth may cause us to cheat, or steal. The desire for food and drink may lead to gluttony and drunkenness. Even justice, which is an excellent desire, may lead us to violence, which itself becomes unjust.
Just like Adam and Eve, we have desires, and valid options for fulfilling them. You want sex? Get married to a Godly spouse. You want wealth? Earn an honest living. You want food and drink? Enjoy them in moderation. But the invalid options are just as attractive. Thus, we need to remind ourselves that our "forbidden fruits", while they may look tasty, will actually lead to death. We need to make an active choice to listen to what God tells us, rather than what our desires tell us. Sin will slay us over and over again until we learn that the serpent by the tree is lying. God has our best interests at heart.