You Can Overcome Temptation #3
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Going straight to the Cross
Good and bad. Good from bad. God makes it possible.
You Can Overcome Temptation
Part 3: The Divine Escape
by Randal Matheny
Note: Here are the first two parts:
Part 1: The Divine Perspective
forthright.antville.org/stories/264271/
Part 2: The Divine Character
forthright.antville.org/stories/276363/
To paraphrase Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time to
stand and resist, and a time to run. Or, perhaps,
both may be used to speak of how we deal with
temptation to sin. James says, "Resist the devil
and he will flee from you" (4:7b). In other places
we are urged to flee from the evil desires of
youth (2 Tim. 2.22), from sexual immorality (1
Cor. 6:18), love of money (1 Tim. 6:10-11).
In our text of 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul assures
us that we will be able to withstand temptation
because he "will provide a way of escape also, so
that you will be able to endure it."
God gives us an escape route, a way out, a means
to put an end (literal meaning) to temptation. We
must search for it, use it, take advantage of it.
For every moment of temptation, God opens a door
of escape.
In the context of this verse, Paul has already
offered some tips on what God provides.
First, the power of examples. The early part of 1
Corinthians 11 is dedicated to Israel's sad
experience in the desert, how the people sinned
repeatedly. "Now these things," says Paul,
"happened to them as an example" (verse 11). We
are supposed to learn from them, in order to avoid
their sins.
Examples both bad and good may motivate us to
avoid sin. The bad examples always include the
final consequences, the result of death and
destruction. Bad examples remind us God's law is
inexorable: you will reap what you sow (Gal. 6:7-
8).
Good examples also illustrate the principle and,
more, show us in concrete terms the way to God.
Jesus is the perfect example, of course, but again
and again many of his disciples are held up as
worthy of imitation. Paul will even offer himself
as an example, "Be imitators of me, just as I also
am of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1).
A second line of escape comes from the same verse
11, "they were written for our instruction." Our
best and worst examples come from Scripture. Our
power to resist and win surfaces from the Bible.
Many weaken before temptation's attractions
because they have been distant from the Sacred
Text.
Jesus answered every temptation with the phrase,
"It is written." He knew this important escape
route.
And, as mentioned earlier, there is, third, the
escape route of fleeing, as Paul suggests in verse
14, "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry."
Israel's big problem continued to plague
Christians. Then and now. Worshiping idols is not
a mere pagan problem; whatever superimposes itself
on the supremacy of God is idol material.
The solution is simple, really: Just get away from
it.
Victim of sexual harassment, Joseph saw no
alternative than to flee, literally, leaving his
coat behind in the hands of his master's wife
(Gen. 39:12). God's way of escape may be as near
as the closest door. Or the nearest jail.
Whatever the immediate action, we should see that
God provides a way out, a way to trash temptation
and revel in holiness. With his providing the way,
we can be certain to overcome temptation and
fulfill every good purpose in Jesus Christ.