My one-year-old niece Lucy has a new trick. It started while she was sitting in her highchair eating a meal one day. She started pretending like her arm was stuck under the armrest of her high chair, and her game began. With this new trick, she sticks her arm under the armrest, gives the people around her a despondent look, and whimpers. At this point, we usually say, "Oh no, your arm!" This game continues until she stops and pulls out her arm, which was never actually trapped in the first place. Usually, she thinks this is a fun game, but occasionally she starts to think that her arm is actually stuck and becomes very upset. The whole time, she has a way out. All she has to do is move her arm. There is a way out for Lucy when she plays this game, but unlike Lucy, we often feel like we have no way out in our much more serious situations. When it comes to temptation, we often think we have no way out when we are tempted. Praise God, however, that this is not true. Scripture teaches that there is always a way out of our temptation. We have to look for it and take it.
While we sometimes feel stuck in our temptation, Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 10 that we are neither alone nor stuck. He wrote, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience" (verse 13). This truth debunks the belief that no one understands our temptation and that no one can help us. All of our temptations are common. They are not new to us. This knowledge brings us comfort and hope that we are not isolated in our temptation. Paul continued teaching about temptation, saying, "And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure" (verse 13). Paul made it clear that we serve a faithful God who does not leave us alone in our temptations. He will always show us a way out of our temptations. We are not stuck without hope when we are tempted. There is always a way out. That way out could be telling someone else your temptation, removing yourself from a tempting situation, asking for help, etc. Finding the way out may feel challenging, but that way out is often obvious, if we are honest. The question is, do we look for ways out of our temptation and take them?
Take heart, my friend. You are not alone when it comes to your temptations. God will always provide a way to escape temptation. As difficult as it may be to take the ways out of our temptations at times, God is always with us, including when we are tempted, and that makes all the difference.
What temptation are you currently facing? Be honest with yourself and recognize the areas in your life where you are tempted to give in to sin. Then, think about ways to escape this temptation when it arises. Maybe you can ask a friend for help or avoid a tempting situation. Be prepared to take it when you recognize your way out of the temptation! End this time praying. Ask God to help you have the courage to take the ways out of your temptation when temptations arise.
"I don't want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. 3 All of them ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, 7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, "The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry." 8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.
9 Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. 10 And don't grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. 11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. 13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
14 So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols. 15 You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true. 16 When we bless the cup at the Lord's Table, aren't we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren't we sharing in the body of Christ? 17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. 18 Think about the people of Israel. Weren't they united by eating the sacrifices at the altar?
19 What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods? 20 No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don't want you to participate with demons. 21 You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord's Table and at the table of demons, too. 22 What? Do we dare to rouse the Lord's jealousy? Do you think we are stronger than he is?
23 You say, "I am allowed to do anything" -but not everything is good for you. You say, "I am allowed to do anything"-but not everything is beneficial. 24 Don't be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.
25 So you may eat any meat that is sold in the marketplace without raising questions of conscience. 26 For "the earth is the Lord's, and everything in it."
27 If someone who isn't a believer asks you home for dinner, accept the invitation if you want to. Eat whatever is offered to you without raising questions of conscience. 28 (But suppose someone tells you, "This meat was offered to an idol." Don't eat it, out of consideration for the conscience of the one who told you. 29 It might not be a matter of conscience for you, but it is for the other person.) For why should my freedom be limited by what someone else thinks? 30 If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why should I be condemned for eating it?
31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Don't give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. 33 I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don't just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved."
