Temptation

One of the most interesting verses of the bible in my opinion is 1 Corinthians 10:13.

13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

This verse teaches us that with every temptation that comes into our lives, there also comes a way to escape that temptation. If this is true I wonder why so many times we fall to temptation, and get ourselves into trouble. You would think that if there is a way to get away from the temptation and avoid sin, then surely the child of God would take the way of escape and avoid getting into sin.

The problem is that most of the time we give into temptation. We are too many times like Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan tempted her with the forbidden fruit. I can only imagine, but that fruit was probably some of the best looking fruit in the garden. Then Satan tempts her by telling her that it will make her like God if she eats the fruit. He even made a false promise that she didn’t have to worry about the warning of God, she wouldn’t die.

Here is a woman in a perfect environment. She has never sinned; she had heard the voice of God, her husband even walked with God every day. She was in the perfect environment to avoid this temptation. We all know how the story ends. She doesn’t flee the temptation. Instead of fleeing she gives in to the temptation and plunges her family and all of humanity into sin.

The reason I think we have such a hard time staying out of trouble is that we are not fleeing from it. Dr Warren Weirsbe once said, “The believer who thinks he can stand may fall; but the believer who flees will be able to stand.” I think we get the idea that we are strong enough to deal with temptation. Because we think we are strong we don’t run away, we stick around and flirt with the sin. This leads to failure more times than not.

Too many Christians today are like the little boy with his hand in the cookie jar. He knows that he is not allowed to eat a cookie before supper. When his mother finds him with his hand the cookie jar she asks, “Son what are you doing?” “Fighting temptation” is the boys reply.

God doesn’t want us to fight temptation with our hand in the cookie jar. That is the wrong place to be fighting. But all too often we are doing just what the little boy did. We know someone is bad for our lives, but we continue to hang around them. We know that certain places lead us to temptation but yet we frequent them. It’s hard avoiding temptation with your hand in the cookie jar.

God has made a way of escape for that thing you are dealing with. More than likely the best way of escape is for you to run away from it. God always makes a way of escape and sometimes the way of escape is the king’s highway and a good pair of heels.

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