Hard Truths

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Temptation is something we all experience on a daily basis. At times it can feel overwhelming and all consuming. We pray for strength to resist and overcome so that we can experience freedom and victory. But do we really want that when it’s offered? That might seem like a strange question, but the hard truth is found in today’s passage.

God said that He will provide a way out when we are tempted. That means that a way of escape exists if we are willing to take it. A simple example could be dieting. We pray for the Lord to help us loose weight and get healthy. Then we are faced with an unhealthy food temptation. We are given a way of escape by either closing the refrigerator, throwing the food away or not purchasing it to begin with.

With each option we are given the choice of whether to indulge or resist. The longer we linger with the choice, the harder it will be. So we have to ask ourselves, “Do we really want a way of this temptation?” Not taking it is an indication that we didn’t want to escape to begin with, which raises another level of concern about our desire to obey God in the first place. How can we pray for the Lord’s help to resist temptation, then refuse to obey when that help comes? That is what the Bible calls being double-minded.

The truth is, that in our own strength, we don’t have what it will take to always resist temptation. But as believers, God’s strength dwells within us through the power of His Holy Spirit, and that same power that raised Jesus from the grave, is more than enough to help us overcome any temptation we face. Our part is to resist the temptation using the power of the Holy Spirit, take the way of escape provided by God, and then watch the enemy flee.